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| Yitzhak Rabin 12th Memorial Anniversary |
| Last Modified at:18-Oct-2007 |
The official memorial day commemorating Yitzhak Rabin, will be marked in Israel on Wednesday, October 24th, in various ceremonies and events. The central commemorative rally will be held on Saturday November 3rd in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv.
The official memorial service to Leah and Yitzhak Rabin will take place on Wednesday, October 24th, at 3 pm at the Section for Nation’s Leaders at Mount Herzl. Other official ceremonies include:
 A lighting of the “president’s candle” on Tuesday, October 23rd at 5 pm at the President’s residence in Jerusalem.
A special Knesset sitting commemorating twelve years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin on Wednesday, October 24th at 5 pm.
The central commemorative rally will be held on Saturday, November 3rd, at 7:30 pm in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv
Yitzhak Rabin - the man and his heritage
Yitzhak Rabin was born in Tel Aviv on March 1st, 1922, and grew up in Jerusalem. He joined the Palmach in 1941 and served as battalion commander and operations officer. In Israel’s War of Independence, he commanded the Harel brigade in battles around Jerusalem, and took part in the formulating the armistice agreements with Egypt at the end of the war.
In 1956 Rabin was appointed GOC Northern Command, and in 1961 Deputy Chief of Staff. In 1964 became the IDF Chief of Staff. Under his command, the IDF had major victories over the Arab armed forces in the Six-Day War of June 1967.
Upon his release from duty, Rabin was appointed the Israeli ambassador to the United States of America. He returned to Israel in 1973 and served as the Labor Minister in Golda Meir’s cabinet. When Ms. Meir resigned in 1974 following the events of the Yom Kippur War, Rabin was elected by the Labor Party to take her place as Prime Minister.
During Rabin’s first term in office, he signed the interim agreement with Egypt, which was the basis for the 1978 Camp David Accords. He also ordered the execution of the successful Operation Entebbe to rescue passengers from an airplane hijacked by terrorists and landed in Uganda. In the 1977 election the Likud party came into power and Rabin became a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
In 1984 a new coalition government in Israel was formed, and Rabin was appointed the Minister of Defense, an office he held until 1990. During that period he took part in the ending the Lebanon War and Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon. Rabin was also the Minister of Defense during the first Palestinian uprising (Intifada) and ordered a strong, uncompromising reaction to violent clashes.
Rabin was re-elected Prime Minister in 1992 and strove to promote a peace process in the Middle East, mainly through negotiations with the Palestinian leadership. In 1993 Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles for Palestinian self-rule (the first Oslo Accord), meant to be interim stage towards a permanent solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A peace treaty with Jordan was also signed in 1994, and additional accords with the Palestinians in 1994 and 1995 enabled the gradual transfer of territories to the newly established Palestinian National Authority.
However, while Israel enjoyed rapid economic growth and made steps towards peace, it also suffered lethal terror attacks by extremist Palestinian factions. These attacks intensified the already passionate debate in Israel between government supporters and the opposition from right-wing parties. Throughout the years 1994-1995, legitimate opposition often turned to harsh, personal incitement against PM Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres, who were portrayed, in rallies of the extreme right, as “traitors” deserving punishment.
On November 4th, 1995, Rabin participated in a mass rally held in Tel Aviv under the slogan “Yes to Peace, No to Violence”. Leaving the square, Rabin was shot three times by a Jewish assassin, Yigal Amir. Rabin died on the operating table.
In 1997 the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day became part of state law, and the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies was founded. The center is dedicated to the commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin’s heritage, research of Israeli society, and the promotion of tolerance, dialogue and democratic discourse.
 The Knesset memorial site to Yitzhak Rabin
Information on Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister’s Office
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