(5 Nov 1997) English/Nat
On the second anniversary of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, thousands of people gathered for a candlelit vigil in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
Among the several thousand people who gathered at the site of the November 4, 1995, shooting, many carried banners criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the right wing.
On the second anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination by an ultranationalist Jew, his supporters and foes are more bitterly divided than ever.
At a candlelit vigil in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, the atmosphere was rife with anger not only over the killing but over political events since - the May 1996 election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the decline of the peace process Rabin championed.
At the assassination site, a monument to Rabin was covered with
wreaths of flowers and surrounded by thousands of memorial candles.
The assassination itself, far from unifying the country, has produced another poisonous divide.
Israel's peace camp accuses the right wing, led by Netanyahu, of creating the hateful climate that led to the killing by viciously attacking his land-for-peace deals with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu accuses his critics of using Rabin's assassination to undermine his government.
Many among the several thousand people who gathered at the site of the November 4, 1995, shooting in Tel Aviv carried signs clearly aimed at Netanyahu and his supporters.
"We won't forget who murdered," read one placard.
Rabin's widow, Leah, said the Israelis now realised they had made a mistake by electing Netanyahu over Rabin's peace partner and successor, Shimon Peres.
She said her late husband was still loved and missed.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I'm very moved. I'm really very, very, moved because this is a testimony for the love that he enjoyed, and people didn't stop loving him and missing him. They really miss him, and this is what you see here."
SUPER CAPTION: Leah Rabin, Widow of Yitzhak Rabin
Rabin's 1993 peace agreement, which put Israel on the path of trading much of the land occupied in the 1967 Mideast War for peace with the Palestinians, has deeply divided the nation.
But one girl at the vigil said his death had ruined Israel.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I mean I really appreciate and admire the person, and I think that maybe he was the best leader that we have had, and I don't know, it really hurt me to hear what happened because I think it's ruined the entire nation."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop
In his final years, Rabin was heckled and denounced as a "traitor" and "murderer" in protest rallies led by Netanyahu, who said Rabin did not have the mandate to hand back land promised to the Jews by God.
But on the second anniversary of his death, it is clear that Rabin still has his supporters.
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