BBC News | Middle East | Appeals for unity at Rabin ceremony


Front Page
World
UK
UK Politics
Business
Sci/Tech
Health
Education
Sport
Entertainment
Talking Point



On Air Feedback Low Graphics Help

Sunday, November 1, 1998 Published at 19:56 GMT

World: Middle East

Appeals for unity at Rabin ceremony

Remembering Rabin: Three years on

Israel marked a second memorial day for the assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Sunday with appeals for unity.

[ image: Binyamin Netanyahu: Call for peace]
Binyamin Netanyahu: Call for peace
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a special session of parliament: "I pray that we can extend a hand to one another and together extinguish the fires of hatred, without blurring the differences among us, because peace is made first among brothers."

Yigal Amir, an extremist right-wing religious Jew opposed to Mr Rabin's peace deals with the Palestinians, shot the Israeli leader on 4 November 1995. He is serving a life sentence for murder.

A state memorial ceremony marking the third anniversary of the shooting was interrupted when two unidentified men in the crowd heckled Mr Netanyahu.

[ image: Leah Rabin laid white roses on her husband's grave]
Leah Rabin laid white roses on her husband's grave
They shouted: "He incited, he incited to murder," as Mr Netanyahu laid a wreath on his grave. Police removed the men from the proceedings.

Leah Rabin, the late prime minister's widow who also attended the ceremony, has made similar accusations about Mr Netanyahu's role in Israeli politics at the time of the murder.

He was leader of the right-wing opposition Likud coalition, which opposed the peace plan Mr Rabin had thrashed out with the Palestinians.

Sunday's ceremonies followed an evening gathering when around 200,000 Israelis paid respects to Prime Minister Rabin's memory at the Tel Aviv square where he was assassinated.