THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511050111
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a war hero who won the Nobel Prize for trying to make peace with the Palestinians, was assassinated Saturday night after leading a massive peace rally.
A 27-year-old Jewish law student was arrested at the scene in Tel Aviv, immediately after he allegedly fired three shots at nearly point-blank range, hitting Rabin in the torso and wounding one of the prime minister's bodyguards.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, considered the architect of the 3-year-old process to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, was named acting prime minister at an emergency Cabinet meeting shortly after Rabin died.
The assassination - the first of an Israeli leader since the founding of the state in 1948 - stunned the nation. World and Middle East leaders from Yasser Arafat to President Clinton declared that the process of peace would continue.
Minutes before he was killed, the 73-year-old Rabin told the cheering Labor Party rally that the majority of Israelis support his 1993 peace accord with Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
``For 27 years I was a military man. I fought all the time. There was no chance for peace. I believe that now there is a chance for peace, and we must take advantage of it,'' Rabin said.
``I have always believed that the majority of the people want peace and are ready to take a chance for peace. And you, by coming to this rally, prove . .
He was leaving the demonstration of more than 100,000 people - the largest pro-peace rally in years
- and heading for his car when a single gunman cut through police circles and fired at his chest. Witnesses said that Rabin collapsed with blood on his shirt and that police pulled him into the car to rush him to the hospital.
A cordon of security officers bundled the gunman away as Rabin was rushed by ambulance to Ichilov Hospital, just a few blocks away in the heart of Tel Aviv. He was hit in the chest, stomach and spinal cord.
He arrived at the hospital with no pulse and no blood pressure, said Health Minister Ephraim Sneh, and died on the operating table at 11:10 p.m. (4:10 p.m. EST), an hour and a quarter after being shot. Seven minutes later, shouting over the sobs and gasps of policemen and journalists, Rabin's senior aide, Eitan Haber, announced his death.
The suspect was identified as Yigal Amir, a third-year law student at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv who had been involved in right-wing causes. He apparently was among the founders of an illegal Jewish settlement called Maale Yisrael that was built this summer in defiance of the then-impending deal to extend Palestinian self-rule to much of the West Bank.
Israeli television showed dozens of police pouncing on a clean-cut young man and shoving him into a police car.
Police sources later told Israeli television that Amir claimed he had tried twice before to kill Rabin and that he acted alone.
``I acted alone on God's orders, and I have no regrets,'' the radio quoted Amir said.
Some Israeli television reporters received a beeper message that a previously unheard-of group calling itself the Jewish Revenge Organization claimed responsibility for the assassination. But false claims by Jewish groups have been made in other political attacks.
A state funeral is scheduled for Monday. According to Jewish tradition, burial takes place within 24 hours. But Rabin's funeral was delayed by a day to give world leaders, including President Clinton, a chance to attend.
Rabin was to lie in state today outside the parliament, or Knesset. Schools were to begin classes with a moment of silence.
For decades, Rabin and most Israeli political leaders lived with the risk that they might be killed by Palestinians or other Arabs - but not by Jews.
Opposition Likud bloc leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been the principal critic of the peace process and had hoped to defeat Rabin in next year's election, condemned the killing.
``I am deeply shocked,'' Netanyahu said. ``I am horrified by this terrible attack . . . Here we yell, we debate, but we don't shoot. We do not accept the idea of raising our weapons in political debate.''
World leaders reacted to Rabin's death with a flood of grief and outrage.
Clinton, in an emotional statement from the White House Rose Garden, called Rabin one of the world's ``greatest men.''
``Yitzhak Rabin was my partner and my friend. I admired him and I loved him very much,'' Clinton said. ``Goodbye, friend.''
King Hussein of Jordan, who signed a peace accord with Rabin last year, announced that he would come to Israel to attend Rabin's funeral Monday. This would be the first visit by an Arab leader to Israel since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat came in 1977.
Arafat, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin and Peres last year, appeared in shock when he said, ``I hope we all have the ability to overcome this tragedy and continue with the peace process in the Middle East.''
Arafat was speaking from the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, which he governs today thanks to Rabin's willingness to negotiate with the PLO.
But on some streets of Gaza, where Islamic Jihad and the Islamic extremist organization Hamas enjoy support, people celebrated after Rabin's death.
In Israel, right-wing extremists who gathered briefly at the hospital condemned Rabin, even as he fought for his life. ``Rabin is a murderer,'' they shouted.
But hundreds of others waiting outside the hospital burst into tears when Haber announced that Rabin had died. Some screamed. Some banged their heads against cars. Others put their hands over their ears, not wanting to hear the news.
``I heard the shot,'' said Haim Avraham, 47, a Labor Party activist from Bai Brach. ``Rabin fell down and someone held him in his arms.''
Avraham, sitting against Ichilov Hospital's concrete wall, said Rabin had hugged him at the rally. ``There was a light on his face. He was so glad, so peaceful. He was like a messiah, like a messiah.''
At the site of the shooting, the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv, young Israelis sat on the ground, weeping. Some lighted candles; others sang the ``Peace Song,'' which the crowd had sung at the rally.
Peres, who had stood alongside Rabin at the rally, later noted that even the often shy and withdrawn Rabin had joined in song. ``It was a happy day in his life, probably the happiest day in his life,'' Peres said.
Peres was named acting prime minister at a late-night Cabinet meeting. Early today, he told the nation that he would continue on Rabin's path.
``There is nothing else we can do, as comrades, as friends but to continue along a great road paved by a great leader,'' Peres said, fighting back tears.
Under Israeli law, the government is deemed to have fallen. That means it is up to President Ezer Weizman, a political maverick, to select a party leader to try to form a new governing coalition.
The choice boils down to Peres or Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the opposition Likud Party. At a 2 a.m. news conference, Weizman declined to discuss his next move. ``The man has not yet been buried,'' he said. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Los Angeles Times, The
Associated Press and The Washington Post.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police surround the 27-year-old Israeli Yigal Amir. He is a
right-wing extremist who police said sought to kill Rabin twice
before.
KEYWORDS: ASSASSINATION MURDER ISRAEL ARREST by CNB