Rabin “possessed the courage to walk in the direction many of his equals considered to be taboo,” said Arafat, who then called Barak his “new peace partner” and asked him to finish the job Rabin began.
Clinton expressed similar sentiments.
“If Rabin were here with us today he would say, ‘There is not a moment to spare. All this honoring me and these nice words, they’re very nice — but please finish the job,'” Clinton told hundreds of people who gathered to pay homage to Rabin at Oslo’s city hall.
“We have now a chance, but only a chance, to bring real and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors,” Clinton said. “If we let it slip away, all will bear the consequences.”
Reiterating his determination to achieve a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians, Barak addressed his political mentor as, “Yitzhak, a soldier who fell in the battle for peace.”
The parties to the peace process are “determined to give your death a meaning by following your legacy until we achieve peace,” Barak said.
Leah Rabin, the slain premier’s widow, said her husband “fell on the altar of peace” and called on Barak and Arafat to build on his legacy.
“We have arrived at the shores of peace,” she said, turning occasionally to address her husband’s portrait.
Shimon Peres urged Barak and Arafat to overcome “daunting, difficult problems” and build the “Middle East of good neighbors” that Rabin had wanted.
“Don’t give up,” said Rabin’s successor as Israeli premier. “We have to be daring.”