In a widely quoted interview yesterday, Yasser Arafat raved and ranted, regurgitated some long-discredited accusations and raised some new ones. Among these:
Mr. Sharon is "part of that group of fanatics who killed my partner, Yitzhak Rabin, with whom I signed the peace of the brave," said the Palestinian leader, referring to the now-defunct 1993 Oslo peace accords.
I've made some attempts in the past to debunk some of the mythology on both sides of the Middle East conflict that surrounds Yitzhak Rabin and his posture in the so-called "peace process." Here's another dose of reality.
Exactly one month before his death, Rabin delivered this address to the Knesset in support of "Oslo II" (link via IMRA). Among the salient points:
We are striving for a permanent solution to the unending bloody conflict between us and the Palestinians and the Arab states.
In the framework of the permanent solution, we aspire to reach, first and foremost, the State of Israel as a Jewish state, at least 80% of whose citizens will be, and are, Jews.
At the same time, we also promise that the non-Jewish citizens of Israel -- Muslim, Christian, Druze and others -- will enjoy full personal, religious and civil rights, like those of any Israeli citizen. Judaism and racism are diametrically opposed.
We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will 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 will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. 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.
And these are the main changes, not all of them, which we envision and want in the permanent solution:
A. First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev -- as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty, while preserving the rights of the members of the other faiths, Christianity and Islam, to freedom of access and freedom of worship in their holy places, according to the customs of their faiths.
B. The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.
C. Changes which will include the addition of Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities, most of which are in the area east of what was the "Green Line," prior to the Six Day War.
D. The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.
The (rejected) offer made by Prime Minister Barak at Camp David was more favorable to the palestinians by leaps and bounds than anything Rabin ever offered to concede. But it's easy to distort the sentiments of the dead, and Arafat has gotten a lot of mileage out of his "my partner Yitzhak" and "peace of the brave" references.
No sovereign palestinian state, Jerusalem united under Israeli sovereignty, expansion of settlements, including Ma'ale Adumim, Gush Etzion and Gush Katif, retention of the strategic Jordan Valley as a security border. This was Yitzhak Rabin's "peace of the brave." And it was contingent upon certain commitments given by the same Arafat which, sadly, were all too clearly bogus. For example:
We have found a solution to the matter of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. As is known, the students of the yeshiva and their teachers at Joseph's Tomb are there only during the day, and do not remain there at night. The current agreement will enable students to travel daily to the Tomb. The inside of the Tomb will be guarded by armed Israelis. The area will be guarded by the Palestinian Police according to the currently existing format and according to the procedures for movement and prayer at the "Shalom al-Yisrael" synagogue in Jericho. These arrangements have been in place in Jericho for a year and five months. There was one incident. A single Jew was prevented from praying.
Well, as we know, there is no longer a yeshiva at Joseph's Tomb. There is no longer really a 'Joseph's Tomb.' It's now ostensibly a mosque. Jews who attempt to pray there are target practice. That's Arafat's "peace of the brave."
The PLO, those in it subject to the authority of its chairman, Arafat, has stopped the terror against us, as they committed themselves in the Declaration of Principles.
Did Rabin believe those words? For the sake of argument, let's assume he did. But, again, events betrayed his expectations. Over 1300 Israelis have been murdered in terrorist attacks since the handshake on the White House lawn. Many times that many wounded. And all with Arafat's complicity if not pursuant to his outright orders. That's Arafat's "peace of the brave."
ATTENTION EU! ATTENTION UN! He wasn't a partner. He isn't a partner. He will never be a partner. End of story.
