Ten years after his assassination, it is important that we remember former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as a man of peace. His efforts to mitigate a century-old conflict and find a peaceful solution between the Israelis and the Palestinian people must be honored, and his assassin, Yigal Amir, should be considered a terrorist. But as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) near their return to the "Road Map," it isn't enough to praise Rabin's intentions. These leaders must also be willing to learn from his failures.
From the start, the Oslo Accords, in which President Clinton brought together Rabin and Arafat, were doomed to failure. Since the accords, deaths on both sides have grown significantly. The great irony of Rabin's term is that the more he tried to end the conflict, the more conflict he created; it was the reconciliation process itself that ended the prospects for peace in the Middle East in the 20th century.
The Oslo Accords began in 1993, when Rabin's government participated in secret negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), a then-militant wing of Palestinian society which had been exiled from Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. Setting up for the hope of peace talks and eventual agreement, the two sides made an interim agreement: The Israelis would recognize the PLO as the representatives of the Palestinian people, effectively installing them as the leaders of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. In exchange, the PLO would abandon its goal of destroying Israel and fight terrorism within its territories.
While this might seem fair at first glance, it is easy to see why this formula failed. Rabin was not dealing with representatives of the Palestinian people; he was dealing with a former terrorist, Arafat, who continued to incite violence and an organization, the PLO, rabid with corruption. In other words, they installed a hateful, corrupt regime to run the future "Palestine." This regime had no accountability to the Palestinian people, a fact that comforted many Israelis who felt that this would allow Arafat to more effectively fight terror.
Empowering Arafat to do so became an obsession of Rabin (and later Peres), and so they provided Arafat with weapons for his police.
By installing an undemocratic leader and then giving him police powers, the Israelis were basically creating a dictatorship within the Palestinian territories. As Arafat continued to violate agreements, misdirect money, increase his police powers and incite violence in Arabic (though peace in English), Rabin, Peres and Clinton let it slide in the name of moving forward the peace process.
So what were the results of installing Arafat? From 1993 to 2000, more Israeli civilians died of terrorist attacks than the previous three decades. After enjoying considerable economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, the Palestinian people saw their standard of living drop every year, despite ever increasing amounts of foreign aid, much of which ended up in Mrs. Arafat's pocketbook. Hamas, which has provided social services to people who were supposed to be helped by the PLO, has grown in influence and carried out hundreds of terrorist attacks. And the average Palestinian and Israeli citizen, unlike 15 years ago, lives every day in fear.
As we move forward with the peace process this time around, Prime Minister Sharon must tread carefully. The situation is not the same as a decade ago. Abu Mazen, unlike Arafat, was elected by the Palestinian people and needs to be successful if he wants to hold on to his power. Unlike Arafat, he uses the same rhetoric in English and in Arabic, and he has consistently argued that violence is not in the best interest of the Palestinian people.
Still, many Israelis and Americans are advocating giving him more weapons, money and police to defeat terrorism and Hamas. While Abu Mazen might be trustworthy, the Palestinian Authority (the former PLO) is still very much corrupt and divided.
The only way for there to be peace is to allow the Palestinians live in freedom under a government they trust, not fear. Once this occurs, the Israelis and Palestinians will be closer than ever to living in two states, side by side and in peace. This was Rabin's hope, and its time to work toward this dream.
--Marc Goldwein is a junior political science and economics major from Merion, Pa.
