Dialogus - Yitzhak Rabin - Acceptance Letter

Acceptance Letter
from Yitzhak Rabin
to the Publisher

Yitzhak Rabin
Tel-Aviv, November 4th 1995

To Mr. Sinclair Dumontais, Publisher

Shalom.

I am writing to you as a soldier who has lost his platoon in combat and walks in the night towards a light, looking friendly, at the horizon. I need to be comforted. For the first time ever, I'm afraid. I need the warmth of other men. The ones that surround me are obsequious and despicable, if not suspect.

Peace will resolve most of the problems of Israel's State. I have been a soldier 27 years. I fought for as long as there was no chance for peace. But I think that today, this chance exists. This is what I am going to tell the Hebrew people, tonight. This has become my obsession. Peace! Finally at hand for the Holy Land. But violence must be denounced. It must be vomited. Violence would destroy peace, and Israel's long term survival demands peace.

The struggle is exhausting. The peace process is lengthy, but the enemies of my people have yet become my people's partners, and Palestinians and Israelis now display more energy building peace than slaughtering each other.

However, a new enemy has risen, from the very breast of Israel. The religious fanatics, that despise the basic rules of democracy, see me as a traitor to the ìGreat Israelî. Mossad and Shin Beth keep warning me. Rumors are being gathered, here and there, about plots, aiming to suppress me. Most of them are mere hoaxes, but worries remain about others. So many fanatics! This frightens me. I mean, I don't fear death. As a soldier, I would have given my life for victory. As a Prime minister, I would give my life for peace and security for the Jews, in Israel. But would the peace process over-live me, if I were to be prevented to lead it on? What if I was killed, tonight, on Kings of Israel's square? Wouldn't the forces of evil benefit the aftermath of such a shock, for the country?

Could Israel trust Shimon Peres, my old rival, if I was to fall? He confided, recently: ìI think we have won the right to dreamî. I hope Eretz Israel's awakening will not be too cruel.

I would be glad to tell your readers about my great country, and about the painstaking way along which I'm leading it, if this is of any interest to them. May they all cherish peace as hard as I am reaching for it.

Yours faithfully,

Yitzhak Rabin

				Acceptance Letter from Yitzhak Rabin to the Publisher




Yitzhak Rabin				Tel-Aviv, November 4th 1995 To Mr. Sinclair Dumontais, Publisher Shalom. I am writing to you as a soldier who has lost his platoon in combat and walks in the night towards a light, looking friendly, at the horizon. I need to be comforted. For the first time ever, I'm afraid. I need the warmth of other men. The ones that surround me are obsequious and despicable, if not suspect. Peace will resolve most of the problems of Israel's State. I have been a soldier 27 years. I fought for as long as there was no chance for peace. But I think that today, this chance exists. This is what I am going to tell the Hebrew people, tonight. This has become my obsession. Peace! Finally at hand for the Holy Land. But violence must be denounced. It must be vomited. Violence would destroy peace, and Israel's long term survival demands peace. The struggle is exhausting. The peace process is lengthy, but the enemies of my people have yet become my people's partners, and Palestinians and Israelis now display more energy building peace than slaughtering each other. However, a new enemy has risen, from the very breast of Israel. The religious fanatics, that despise the basic rules of democracy, see me as a traitor to the ìGreat Israelî. Mossad and Shin Beth keep warning me. Rumors are being gathered, here and there, about plots, aiming to suppress me. Most of them are mere hoaxes, but worries remain about others. So many fanatics! This frightens me. I mean, I don't fear death. As a soldier, I would have given my life for victory. As a Prime minister, I would give my life for peace and security for the Jews, in Israel. But would the peace process over-live me, if I were to be prevented to lead it on? What if I was killed, tonight, on Kings of Israel's square? Wouldn't the forces of evil benefit the aftermath of such a shock, for the country? Could Israel trust Shimon Peres, my old rival, if I was to fall? He confided, recently: ìI think we have won the right to dreamî. I hope Eretz Israel's awakening will not be too cruel. I would be glad to tell your readers about my great country, and about the painstaking way along which I'm leading it, if this is of any interest to them. May they all cherish peace as hard as I am reaching for it. Yours faithfully, Yitzhak Rabin