Rabin of Israel: Warrior for Peace

by Robert Slater

Book Overview

Summarizes the life and career of the two-time Israeli prime minister and examines his potential impact on peace talks in the turbulent Middle East. By the author of Warrior Statesman: The life of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061010669
• ISBN13: 9780061010668
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: HarperPrism
• Length: 612 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Account of Israel great statesman-warrior

Yitzhak Rabin was definitely a great man. He was the hero of the Six Day War : Under his command the IDF defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. He also served as Israeli ambassador to Washington, and did sterling work to cement ties between Israel and her greatest ally,the USA. Unfortunately he also made the greatest mistake in Israeli history. Rabin, in a desire for peace, and under intense international pressure, signed accords with arch-murderer Yasser Arafat and his terrorist gang, the PLO, allowing the PLO to return to Israeli territory, and set up terror networks, with the aim of Israel's destruction. Rabin miscalculated,not realizing that the PLO never had any intention of recognizing Israel, but saw territorial concession as just another step leading to the destruction of Israel and the genocide of her Jews. Just three months after Rabin's murder at the hands of a far right zealot,Yigal Amir ( a horrible and execrable deed), Arafat made plain his aim of destroying Israel, at a secret meeting after a dinner of 40 Arab diplomats, on January 30, 1996, in the Grand Hotel Stockholm, Sweden: "We of the PLO will now concentrate on splitting Israel psychologically into two camps. Within five years we will have six to seven million Arabs living on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. All Palestinian Arabs will be welcomed back by us. You must understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Arab Palestinian State". "We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. Jews will not wish to live among Arabs. I have no use for Jews.They are and remain Jews. "We now need all the help we can get from you for a united Palestine under total Arab Muslim domination". Rabin had seen too much bloodshed and had been put under intense pressure by the international community, who threatened to impose sanctions on Israel, when she deported 450 Hamas terrorists, with Jewish blood on their hands in 1993. But it is still a mystery how a statesman and warrior, like Rabin, could be hoodwinked by modern day Hitler Arafat. The book deals with key events in Rabin's life and career, as well as key events in Israel during the life and times of Rabin, such as the Arab pogroms against Jews in the Land of Israel, in 1920, 1921,1929 and 1936-1939. Terrorist attacks across Israel's borders by the Fedayeen and later PLO, from the establishment of Israel, President Nixon's wise warning to Israel in 1968 to Israel to never return the Golan Heights to Syria, or to withdraw from disputed territories until there was a peace settlement and the Entebbe rescue raid into Uganda in 1976, under Rabin's premiership. There are parts of the book when Slater is off the rails though such as his seeming condemmnation of Israeli actions during the First Intifada, not realizing the ruthless nature of Palestinian aims and strategies, and his naive belief that the First Intifada was not directed by the PLO, Sy

Credible

This is a carefully documented record of the life of one of Israel's great heroes, Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin who was considered the finest staff officer to ever serve in the Israel Army led the Harel brigade in the Israeli war of independence. He helped built and train the Israeli Army into a modern fighting force. He was the Chief-of- Staff of the Army at the outbreak of the Six- Day War, and one of the principal architects of that great victory. He subsequently entered politics and became the Prime Minister of Israel. His first time was shadowed by an illegal bank- account scandal. He made a political comeback, and was elected Prime Minister once more. He then along with Shimon Peres signed the Oslo Agreement with Yassar Arafat, one of the major mistakes in modern Israeli political history. He was assassinated by a radical religious right- wing political opponent in a dastardly action most people thought would never happen in a Jewish state. After his death he became a figure of 'myth' who the people mourned deeply. This is a credible account.