Rabin, Yitzhak (1922-1995)
Rabin, Yitzhak (1922-1995)
Military commander and fifth prime minister
of Israel.
Born in Jerusalem, Rabin joined the Palmah when it was
founded in 1940 and participated in the Allied invasion of Syria in
1941. In 1944, as second in command of a Palmah battalion, he took part
in underground actions against the British Mandatory regime and on June
29, 1946 -- "Black Saturday" -- he was arrested and imprisoned for six
months.
In 1947 he was appointed deputy commander of the Palmah. In
1948, during the War of Independence, he commanded the Harel Brigade,
which was prominent in the fight for Jerusalem. Later that year he
became deputy to Yigal Allon and he was a member of the Israel truce
delegation to the Rhodes armistice talks. He was C.O. Northern Command
1956--1959, and was appointed deputy chief of staff in 1961.
He became
seventh chief of staff on January 1, 1964. During his term of duty, the
Israel Defense Forces were victorious in the Six Day War of 1967. He
retired from the army on January 1, 1968 to become Israel ambassador to
the U.S., serving until 1973.
Elected to Israeli parliament, the Knesset, at the end of 1973, he was
then appointed as a cabinet minister. In May 1974, following the
retirement of Prime Minister Golda Meir, he became prime minister of
Israel and served until March 1977 when he resigned following the
revelation of his wife Leah's illegal foreign bank accounts.
Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres assumed leadership of Labor which lost the
following election to the right wing party, Likud. He remained active in
the Labor Party and became defense minister in the National Unity
Government (1984--88, 1988--90).
He led the Labor Party to victory in
the 1992 elections and became prime minister. Rabin placed great
emphasis on the need to achieve peace in the Middle East and thus, on
September 13, 1993, he shook hands hesitantly with PLO Chairman Yasser
Arafat, sealing their joint Declaration of Principles (DOP). The DOP
provided for Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza Strip and Jericho area as
a first step towards a comprehensive settlement between the two. In May
1994, he signed an agreement in Cairo granting self-rule to Palestinians
of Gaza and Jericho as stipulated in the DOP and by May, Israeli troops
had fully withdrawn from these areas.
In the same year, he signed a
historic peace treaty with Jordan's King Hussein, ending the 46 year
state of war. For his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, Rabin
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with Arafat and Peres in
1994. In 1995, Rabin signed an agreement with Arafat at the White House,
expanding Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. Following a peace rally
demonstrating the Israeli public's support of the Peace Process, Rabin
was assassinated at the age of 73 by assassin Yigal Amir.
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