Let Any Israeli Prime Minister Now Try/Think to Cede Any Territory to Palestine for Peace: Arsen Julfalakyan

Arsen Julfalakyan wrote on his Facebook page: "Comparing the incomparable... Yitzhak Rabin - a political and military figure. The 6th and 11th Prime Minister of Israel. Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1994). He is the first Prime Minister of Israel to have been born in the country, the only Prime Minister to have been assassinated during his term in office.

At the age of 19, Rabin voluntarily enlisted in the 'Palmach'. Four years later, in 1945, he became the deputy commander of the first battalion of the 'Palmach'. He participated in the war for Israel's independence, led military operations in Jerusalem, and fought against the Egyptian army. A major general in the Israel Defense Forces, from 1959 to 1963 he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, and from 1964 to 1968 as Chief of Staff. Under his command, the Israeli army achieved a brilliant victory in the 'Six-Day' war.

After finishing his military career in 1968, Rabin was appointed Israeli ambassador to the USA for five years. In 1974, after the resignation of Golda Meir, he became Prime Minister (by the way, Meir had been in power since 1969). After Israel's difficult victory in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, his party reconfirmed its advantage in the early elections held in December of the same year (39.6%). However, the heavy losses suffered in the war and especially the wave of discontent within his party forced Meir to resign, thus ending her political career.

In 1977, Rabin resigned from the Prime Minister's office, accepting responsibility for the discovery of a foreign bank account in his wife's name (in the USA), which was prohibited by Israeli law at the time. From 1984 to 1990 he was Israel's Minister of Defense. During the initial phase of the 'First Intifada' which erupted in 1987, he ordered the military to brutally suppress Palestinian protests. However, during the process, he concluded that the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict could be achieved not through violence and force but through negotiations.

After being re-elected as Prime Minister in 1992, he signed the 'Oslo Accords' with the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasir Arafat in 1993, for which he was awarded (along with Shimon Peres and Yasir Arafat) the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 9, 1993, the day before the signing of the agreement, Rabin received a letter from Arafat in which he renounced violence and officially announced his organization's recognition of Israel. On the same day, Rabin sent a reply letter to Arafat, officially declaring Israel's recognition of the PLO. As a result of these agreements, the Palestinian Authority was established, which was given partial control of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

The agreement divided Israeli society; some considered the Prime Minister a hero for striving for peace, while others branded him a traitor for giving land to Palestinians (which they believed belonged to Israel). In 1994, Rabin also signed a peace agreement with Jordan.

On November 4, 1995, after addressing a mass rally in favor of the 'Oslo' process, Rabin approached his car and was shot three times. Forty minutes later, he died in the hospital. The assassin was a 25-year-old religious student who justified his crime by saying he was 'defending the people of Israel from the Oslo Accords.' The civilized world was shocked by the assassination.

Since 1997, a memorial day for Yitzhak Rabin has been officially established. 'King's Square' in Israel was named after Rabin. Hundreds of buildings across the country carry his name. A massive center for the study of Rabin’s legacy has been built in Tel Aviv.

Despite the significant differences between the situations today and the example I have provided, and although Yitzhak Rabin can be considered one of the greatest political figures of the 20th century, this is still another compelling evidence that even those who have gone through a glorious path do not get forgiven for ceding land (even, as in this case, with very valid reasons...). Not to mention the vices of giving away land, defeat, betrayal, negligence, and other ignoble phenomena.

As a side note, let any Israeli Prime Minister now try/think to cede any territory to Palestine for peace, not to mention publicly announcing it beforehand... They have chosen the option of being the best through actions, not empty words!"