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Peace Process

Rabin opposed withdrawal, ?Palestinian? state


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
October 27, 2004

As Israel prepared Tuesday to mark the ninth anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the Independent Media Review and Analysis news agency pointed out that the former prime minister’s own policies were far different than those now being pushed by his left-wing followers and their new patron – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Most notably, when Rabin brought the so-called “Oslo Accords” before the Knesset for ratification in 1995, he insisted there would never be a sovereign Palestinian state and that not one Jewish community would be uprooted until a final settlement was reached.

He said the outcome of the peace process should be a Palestinian Arab “entity which is less than a state.”

Additionally, “the borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin said his government had “committed ourselves before the Knesset” to not only facilitate the “natural growth” of existing settlements, but to also “establish blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one [Sharon now intends to uproot] in Gush Katif.”

Israel would “not uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement,” the former prime minister insisted.

Regarding any eventual withdrawal, Rabin - unlike Sharon and his supporters in Rabin’s Labor Party - was adamant approval for such a step could only be provided by a national referendum.

When asked in 1995 in an interview with Israel Radio about a possible future withdrawal from the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal with Syria, Rabin stated, “a decision on this would be made in a national referendum.”

“In other words, the people will decide on what it is prepared to give up in order to reach peace. I do not see this as being subject only to a Knesset decision,” he said.

Those to the left of the political spectrum who claim to be Rabin’s ideological heirs have attacked demands that Sharon hold a referendum on his Gaza retreat plan as “undemocratic” and “undermining the legitimacy of the Knesset.”

The anniversary of Rabin’s death began at sundown Tuesday, according to the Hebrew calendar. Flags were lowered to half-mast, and memorial ceremonies were held throughout the nation.

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