Amanpour and Company

YOU KNOW, WE ALL KNEW AT THE TIME THE MONTHS LEADING UP TO THE ASSASSINATIONS THAT THE TENSIONS WERE RISING. THE RHETORIC WAS EXTREME. WHEN WE THOUGHT OF AN OPTION OF A POLITICAL ASSASSINATION, TO US IT SEEMED FOREIGN. AND I THINK THAT'S WHY THE EVENT WAS SO SHOCKING AND PRO FOUND. AND IT SHOOK THE PSYCHE TO THE CORE. AND I THINK MANY ISRAELIS WOULD AGREE THAT THOSE DIVISIONS, THE ASSASSINATIONS STEAMED FROM, THEY'RE STILL OPEN. THE WOUND HASN'T HEALED. >> AND WE SAID THE ANNIVERSARY IS NOVEMBER 4th. ON THE JEWISH CALENDAR, IT IS TODAY. AND WE'VE SEEN VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN STAND WITH ISRAEL AND MOURN THE LOSS OF YITZHAK RABIN. AND WE'VE SEEN THOSE MESSAGES FROM AROUND THE WORLD. JUST IN TERMS OF THE BASIC THING THAT HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR. PEACE, THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION. IT IS LIKE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND RIGHT NOW AND THERE IS NO GREAT EFFORT TO EVEN TRY TO GET IT TOGETHER. >> THAT IS TRUE. YOU HAVE THE PERSON WHO SHOT YITZHAK RABIN IN THE BACK. HIS AIM WAS TO PUT THE PEACE PROCESS ON ITS TRACKS. WE ARE SITTING HERE AER QUA OF A CENTURY AFTER AND WE KNOW THERE IS NO PEACE AND NO BROSS THE PALESTINIANS. I THINK THE QUESTION THAT RESONATES, THE QUESTION OF VIRTUAL HISTORY, WOULD WE HAVE PEACE HAD RABIN LIVED? OBVIOUSLY THE OBSTACLES AND THE CHALLENGES WERE HUGE. ISRAELIS EXPERIENCED FOR MANY YEARS AFTER THE OSLO ACCORDS WERE SIGNED FROM THEIR PERSPECTIVE, A VERY DARK PERIOD OF TERROR ATTACKS. THE MORE THE ATTACKS WENT ON, THE MORE THE DWINDLING OF THE SUPPORT FOR PEACE. I THINK IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO THINK OF YITZHAK RABIN'S CHARACTER TODAY. HE HAD THAT RARE COMBINATION OF BEING THE ISRAELI, ONE OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF ISRAEL. THE HERO OF THE 1967 WAR. HE DIDN'T COME TO PEACE FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE FROM THE LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE. HE WAS A PRAGMATIST. BECAUSE OF HIS ROUGH AND GRUFF CHARACTER, BECAUSE ISRAELIS TRUSTED HIM, HE WAS THE ONE WHO COULD TAKE THEM TOW THRESHOLD. THE NAVY CONVINCED HIM TO TAKE THE RISK FOR PEACE. THE ISRAELI LEFT NEVER MANAGED TO REPLACE HIM. I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER. I DON'T KNOW IF RABIN HIMSELF COULD HAVE IMPLEMENTED. WHAT I DO KNOW, WITH HIM GONE, THIS BECAME IMPOSSIBLE.