Rabin remembered
More than 200 people attended an event honouring the life and memory of the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Rabin was assassinated 19 years ago at a Peace Rally in Tel Aviv.
Rabin remembered
The communal event was organised by the Zionist Council of NSW together with the 5 Zionist Youth Movements, Bnei Akiva, Betar, Habonim Dror, Hineni & Netzer, the Jewish Day Schools, Emanuel, Moriah and Masada and BJE who each contributed to the ceremony through moving tributes of song, prayer and poetry, words of inspiration and lessons of leadership learnt from the great leader himself. It was held at the National Council of Jewish Women in Woollahra
Sharon Wahlhaus, Education Liaison of the ZCNSW says “It was wonderful to experience the sincere passion of the youth striving to fulfil Rabin’s vision and hope for peace”
The ceremony was very much focused on the youth and included a speech Yitzhak Rabin made to the members of the Israeli youth movement he grew up in, in which he says “If there is anything that is unique about youth, it’s the tendency towards rebellion against conventions. That is, not just for the sake of being a rebel, but for the sake of creating change…”.
There was a mix of traditional and contemporary musical tributes to Rabin including a piano and vocal solo from Emanuel year 7 student, Josh New, who inspired the audience with his rendition of Matisyahu’s ‘One Day’, a song yearning for a future of peace.
Those that attended also took the opportunity to add their own messages of sorrow and hope to a life-sized copy of the Graffiti wall at the Memorial in Rabin Square where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
A Panel discussion 20 years on from the peace treaty with Jordan fostered some healthy debate on the importance of the treaty and the potential for other peace agreements in the future. Panellists included Daniel Grunstein (Betar), Caden Feldman-Gubbay (Habonim Dror) and Glen Falkenstein (AIJAC).
Sharon Wahlhaus ,Education Liason Officer of the ZCNSW spoke of “Rabin’s vision and hope for peace.”
I hope she mentioned Mr Rabin’s vision and hope for peace as set out in the speech he delivered to the Knesset on October 5, 1995 – just days before his assassination – when presenting the 300 page “Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”. That speech identified the following signposts that Mr Rabin’s historic path and vision sought to take:
1. First and foremost, the State of Israel would be a Jewish State, at least 80% of whose citizens would be Jews.
2. The State of Israel would include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate; and alongside it a Palestinian entity which would be home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
3. The Palestinian entity would be less than a state and would independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.
4. The borders of the State of Israel would be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. Israel would not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.
The main changes Mr Rabin envisaged as a result were:
a) Jerusalem would be united and would include both Maale Adumim and Givat Zeev as the capital of Israel under Israeli sovereignty;
b) The security border of Israel would be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term;
c) Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities in the area east of what was the “Green Line” prior to the Six Day War would be included in the State of Israel;
d) Blocs of settlements would be established in Judea and Samaria like the one in Gush Katif;
e) No single settlement would be uprooted in the framework of the Interim Agreement, nor building hindered for natural growth;
f) The responsibility for the external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and the Gaza Strip maritime zone, would remain in Israeli hands; and
g) Murderers of Jews, or those who had wounded others seriously, would not be released.