Peres leads a candlelight tribute to Rabin's 'flame of peace'

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
The often bitter rivalry that characterized the relationship of President Shimon Peres and former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin dissipated toward the end of Rabin's life when the two joined forces in an effort to pave the path to peace. Speaking Sunday at the Ner Yitzhak ("A Candle for Yitzhak") ceremony that takes place annually at Beit Hanassi on the Hebrew anniversary of Rabin's assassination, Peres recalled the friendship that developed between them and said that he had missed Rabin every day since his death 13 years ago. In the aftermath of Rabin's murder, said Peres, people from all walks of life shed tears and lit memorial candles. The candle that Peres kindled at Beit Hanassi was yet another light to illuminate the path and the accomplishments of an Israeli statesman and military leader, he said. "In it burns the wick of democracy that strengthens the flame of peace," said Peres. Rabin's path was not an easy one, Peres said. The president recalled the vitriolic incitement against Rabin as he and Peres tried to cloak the Jewish people's generations-old dream for peace in a new reality. Rabin had been unafraid, Peres said, and had persevered with courage until he was stopped by an assassin's bullet. Speaking in measured tones, the slain prime minister's grandson, Yonatan Ben-Artzi, said that Rabin's legacy was one of tolerance and opposition to violence. The people of Israel are once again being called to account, he said, as he urged the nation to direct its efforts towards unity. There is a new era of tolerance and change in the United States of America, he noted, because America has demonstrated a fresh openness and hope that Israel could emulate. "We also need change, but it has to start from above - from the government, the Knesset, the Supreme Court, and the IDF," Ben-Artzi declared. His grandfather's legacy included the ability to take action, he said. "The only hands with which we have to do anything are our own. The time has come to act." Ben-Artzi expressed the hope that his grandfather's example would serve as a guideline for the nation. At the conclusion of the ceremony, children from the Rabin Elementary School in Nesher, who had not been born at the time of Rabin's assassination, dedicated songs to him, while other pupils filed through the hall with their hands cupped around the flickering flames of memorial candles. Outside the grounds of Beit Hanassi, some 20 youngsters, some of them wearing the uniforms of Zionist youth groups, sat in a circle on the pavement talking about how to revive Zionist values. Paramount on the list was not to shirk their army duty, and to work toward persuading their peers who didn't want to serve in the military to change their minds and realize that army service is obligatory for all those who care about the security of both the nation and the individual.