On November 4th 1995, the then Israel’s prime minister Ytzhak Rabin was killed. For many in the Middle East, not only Rabin was killed, but also the peace process, which he moved forward. Rabin was no peacenik, something he criticized for his inner party rival Shimon Peres. Rabin was a soldier and a warrior. He had always the security of Israel and its predominately Jewish population on his mind. For a long time he thought, that only by fighting the Palestinians, this security could be guaranteed. As Roger Cohen wrote in the New York Times: “Rabin was a warrior who fought ruthlessly to safeguard Israel before realizing that war could not achieve this.” Or, in his own words: “We must think differently, look at things in a different way. Peace requires a world of new concepts, new definitions.” As his murder showed, it was courageous to have new concepts and to go new ways.
A hero or a traitor?
As Ytzak Rabin was a contested person, even his death did not stop the discussions about his role and attitude towards a “final settlement” of the Palestinian question. Aluf Benn wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “The left needs a hero, and the right needs a traitor.” Indeed, for many on the right, Ytzak Rabin is still a traitor - as for many right-wing Indians Mahatma Gandhi is a traitor. But also on the “left” you find critical voices.
Amira Hass, who has for many years followed and critically engaged with the issue of the Palestinian cause, wrote recently - in Haaretz again: “The fact that an Istaeli rightist murdered him doesn’t prove that Prime minister Ytzhak Rabin had severed himself from Israel’s heritage and the Israeli establishment to seek a true peace. Quite the contrary.” This is a very harsh evaluation of Rabin’s efforts to come to an agreement with the Palestinians. Amira Hass is citing Rabin’s speech at the Knesset, a month before he was killed, in which he wanted to convince the majority, to support his negotiations. But, as one comment to her article argues, he used a hawkish rhetoric to get support of the center-right.
New militarization instead of peace-process
Anyway, his murder by a right-wing fanatic stopped the peace process, however it is evaluated. Indeed, it would have resulted in a settlement with few sacrifices for Israel. Aluf Benn has compared Rabin’s peace plan with the recent agreements, brokered by President Trump, between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Israel did not make any sacrifices to establish diplomatic relations with these countries: “Not a single bit of land or a single settler had to move in exchange, and the Palestinians got only a vague lip service.”
Maybe with one exception: Israel had to agree to the US decision to sell 50 F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates. This was the real interest of President Trump since he started engaging in the affairs of the Middle East. He wants to sell weapons. As a compensation to Israel for its consent to American sales of sophisticated fighters to the Arab countries, Israel may buy additional F-35 fighters. That is really crazy and I cannot see, how this will foster peace. But peace is not on the mind of President Trump, especially if the war is fought by others.
25 years after the assassination of Ytzhak Rabin his legacy is still unclear. Maybe he is not a hero, but he is definitely not a traitor. He tried to stop the cycle of hatred and violence and longed for a durable settlement. He wanted still Israel to be the dominant force and its own guarantor for its security. Today, the Palestinian issue is still unsolved and a new alliance is being enhanced between Israel and some Arab countries supported by US sale of fighter jets - until now a privilege of Israel. But without coming to an agreement with Iran, the militarization of the Middle East will not mean more security.
Picture: Israel Defense Forces
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Dr. Hannes Swoboda, President of the International Institute for Peace (IP), started his career in urban politics in Vienna and was elected member of the European Parliament in 1996. He was Vice President of the Social Democrat Group until 2012 und then President until 2014. He was particularly engaged in foreign, enlargement, and neighborhood policies. Swoboda is also President of the Vienna Institute for International Economics, the Centre of Architecture, the University for Applied Science - Campus Vienna, and the Sir Peter Ustinov Institute.