Feature: 20 years after Rabin's assassination, Israelis concerned over future

"Twenty years have passed since (former Prime Minister Yitzhak) Rabin was killed, and things seem to be bleaker than ever," Yaron Yovel said on Saturday night at a rally at the Tel Aviv square marking the anniversary of Rabin's assassination.

"Peace became a dirty word and we are at the brink of a civil war," the40-year-old man from Israel's central city of Herzelia warned.

Rabin was assassinated when attending a massive peace rally at the Tel Aviv square on the evening of Nov. 4, 1995 by a Jewish extremist named Yigal Amir, who opposed to his Mideast peace process. After a period of incitement-turned-violence, Rabin signed the 1993 Oslo Accords with the Palestinian authority (and the less controversial 1994 peace treaty with Jordan).

Two decades have passed, thousands of Israelis gathered at the rally under the title of "Remembering the Murder, Fighting for Democracy" at the same square to remember the former prime minister's call for peace, while expressed their concerns over their unknown future.

"When Rabin was prime minister we had a real hope for peace, now you can't even say the word Peace, or identify yourself as a left-wing person, without being considered by many in Israel as a traitor or delusional," Yovel told Xinhua.

The sentiment was shared by other nearly 100,000 Israelis attending the heavily-secured rally, who also came here in search of hope under threats from extreme right-wingers about hurting those attending the rally.

"It's unbelievable how bad our situation is now compared to 20 years ago," said 63-year-old Bella Freund from Tel Aviv.

"If you say you support and believe peace is possible, people will look at you like you are alien, and not just from the right. People believe the politicians, who tell them there is nothing to aspire to, and there's no one to talk to - just this week (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu said we will forever live on our swords," she said.

While center-left Israelis became optimistic of ending the decades-long conflict, the right wing in Israel was angered by Rabin's move, objecting to territorial compromises for peace and viewing him as culpable for a raging wave of Palestinian attacks on Israel's streets in the mid-90s.

Actually, the assassination of Rabin, a long-time military man who became a politician advocating for peace and compromise in his later days, seemed to have derailed Israel from the pathway to peace permanently.

After the tragic happened, many Israelis said they have become "disillusioned" with prospects for peace, and that things seem to be bleaker than ever as Israelis and Palestinians are mired in a wave of violence that claimed dozens of lives in recent weeks.

However, at the rally this time Yovel did find hope. "I'm happy that many people are here, although we don't seem to be the majority in the country. This rally is held in Tel Aviv, the most liberal city in Israel. It's good to feel that you're not alone." he said.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and former U.S. President Bill Clinton also spoke on the podium behind a protective glass.

Freund believed it is an encouraging sign that many people showed up to the rally, but was disappointed at the lack of "cohesive message" by the organizers of the event, who just wanted to draw as many people as possible to the event.

"People here may express their support of peace -- which is already a good sign -- and their worry for the state of our democracy, but no one here is talking about the occupation of the Palestinians and the urgent need to end them, about the control we have over millions of Palestinians with no basic rights. That's the problem with the Israeli left -- it's trying not to step on anyone's toes and anger the consensus and the majority," she said.

EXPANDED DIVISIONS

Divisions between conservative and liberal Israelis have expanded into a state where some warned of a "civil war."

Prior to Rabin's assassination, extreme right wing protesters held a forged photo of him dressed in Nazi uniform, calling him a traitor and chanting slogans like "we will expel Rabin with blood and fire."

Recently, President Rivlin received a similar treatment as a forged photo of him in Nazi uniform was spread, after he expressed his condolences on a Palestinian family killed by Jewish extremists in a firebomb attack. Rivlin comes from the right-wing Likud party, but preaches for co-existence between Jews and Arabs.

"We are not afraid of those who create these photos," Rivlin said at the rally.

Reuven Shiloh from Jerusalem said, "The reason I came here today was the need to express solidarity with the values of democracy. People here are becoming more and more concerned with speaking their mind if it doesn't conform to the agenda, which is very right wing."

He believed that Israelis should focus more on the situation that brought about the murder, rather than the late prime minister himself.

"No lessons were actually learned from the murder," Shiloh said, reiterating a stance made by Rabin's daughter Dalia in a memorial ceremony this week.

"Instead of handling the violence and extremism and the divides we focus too much on Rabin as a person, I guess because it's easier. But as we do that, things have escalated and I hope -- for us, for our children and the future of this country -- that it's not too late," he added. Endi