Yahoo – AFP,
Laurent Lonzano, 24 Oct 2015
Tel Aviv
(AFP) - Thousands of Israelis rallied Saturday for fresh Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the killing of prime
minister Yitzhak Rabin.
The
demonstrators chanted "Jews and Arabs don't want to hate each other"
and "Israel, Palestine, two states for two peoples" as they came together amid a new upswing in violence which makes prospects for
peace in the decades-old conflict look deeply gloomy.
They
gathered at Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, the site where the Nobel peace laureate
was gunned down by a rightwing Jewish extremist at the age of 73 on November 4,
1995.
Then
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
lights a flame on Jerusalem day at a
memorial for soldiers who fell, on May 19,
1993 (AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana)
|
Daniel
Dojon told AFP he came "because the situation is crazy. I am not talking
about safety but the lack of (political) progress, the lack of hope. Israeli
politicians are becoming more and more extreme."
Another
protester, who identified himself only as Zeev, 67, blamed the lack of a peace
process for the current violence.
"It
will further deteriorate if we think that being passive is the answer."
Dov Kredo,
60, who attended the peace rally where Rabin was killed, came from Galilee in
northern Israel, and said he feels "very pessimistic" about the
current situation.
"It is
much easier for people to answer the call of fear and hatred," he said.
State
memorial
Rabin's
killer, Yigal Amir, had hoped to derail the 1993 Oslo accords signed by Rabin
and the Palestinians, a landmark agreement aimed at resolving the decades-old
conflict.
He is
currently serving a life sentence.
According
to the Hebrew calendar the anniversary falls now, rather than in November.
On Sunday
President Reuven Rivlin hosts a candle-lighting tribute in Rabin's memory and
on Monday there will be a state memorial ceremony alongside his grave in the
national cemetery on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl.
"The
path that was stopped in 1995 is very much the path that needs to be taken
today," Peace Now spokeswoman Anat Ben Nun told AFP.
Israeli-Palestinians
tensions, always simmering, have surged recently in a wave of Palestinian knife
and gun attacks, as well as clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security
forces.
Since the
start of this month, 52 Palestinians and one Israeli Arab have died in clashes
or while carrying out attacks.
Eight
Israelis have died in attacks. One Israeli Jew and one Eritrean have been
killed after being mistaken for attackers.
"What
we see now is very much related to the path not taken since 1995," Ben Nun
said, adding that Saturday night's protest was aimed at the policies of the
incumbent right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The most
recent attempt to resolve the conflict collapsed in April 2014 amid bitter
recriminations on both sides.
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A woman visits the statue of ex-Israeli PM #Rabin on 20th anniversary of his assassination https://t.co/GNuv1QlUCx pic.twitter.com/pnA0jf5kQD
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 25, 2015
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