Calls for peace dominated speeches by Arab leaders at Saturday's memorial service to observe the seventh anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, at the Tel Aviv square where he was gunned down in 1995.
Some 100,000 people gathered under the slogan "Remembering together - believing in peace" where Rabin was shot dead by an extreme right-wing Jew during a peace rally, Haaretz reported.
Paying tribute in a speech transmitted to the crowd, Jordanian King Abdullah hailed Rabin as "a brave and good man," who had been "assassinated by an enemy of peace."
The Jordanian leader appealed for peace, saying that the steps on the road to peace that have already been taken could not be reversed. "The enemies of peace did not, could not turn back the clock," he conveyed. "The peacemakers had shone a spotlight on truce that can never again be denied. We know it's not normal, not inevitable that neighbors should live as enemies. It's not normal, not inevitable that families should lose their children to violence. It's not normal, not inevitable that young people should live without hope."
"The vast majority of people on both sides want peace," the monarch said. "It's up to us to listen to the voices of peace, or bow to the obstructionists, the extremists, the opportunists."
A taped speech by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak echoed the Jordanian king's call for an end to violence, warning Israel that the only way to guarantee its security was through making peace with its neighbors. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
