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The Rabin Memoirs, Expanded Edition with Recent Speeches, New Photographs, and an Afterword
The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in November of 1995—one year after he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Yasir Arafat—sent shock waves around the world. Known as both a man of war and of peace, the Jerusalem-born Israeli prime minister played a key role in developing the Jewish state and was instrumental in establishing peace in the Middle East. Yitzhak Rabin's memoirs, first published in 1979 but long out of print, are now available in this expanded edition. They provide a candid appraisal of significant events in Israeli history, and passages censored when the memoirs were first published have been restored. The addition of an afterword by Rabin's political advisor, Yoram Peri, and his most important speeches given after 1979 round out Rabin's life and show the evolution of his beliefs.
Rabin writes of his years in the Haganah (the independent Jewish military) and gives a controversial account of the War of Independence. He details the tactical moves that made him a hero in the Six Day War and recalls his years as ambassador to the United States. He tells of his difficult decision to authorize the 1976 rescue of hijacked hostages from the Entebbe airport. Rabin describes the conflicts that eventually led to his party's defeat after thirty years in power, and he concludes with a shrewd assessment of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and of prospects for peace with Israel's other neighbors, including the Palestinians.
Yitzhak Rabin's memoirs are important not only for the insider's view they offer about Israel and the Middle East, but also for providing a very human portrait of a heroic world leader.
From the book :"Most of you watched that ceremony on the White House lawn with mixed emotions, many of you grinding your teeth. I knew that the hand outstretched to me . . . was the same hand that held the knife, that held the gun, the hand that gave the order to shoot, to kill. Of all the hands in the world, it was not the hand that I wanted or dreamed of touching. . . . On that world stage, I stood as the representative . . . of a state that is willing to give peace a chance. As I have said, one does not make peace with one's friends. One makes peace with one's enemy."—Jerusalem, December 1993
Rabin writes of his years in the Haganah (the independent Jewish military) and gives a controversial account of the War of Independence. He details the tactical moves that made him a hero in the Six Day War and recalls his years as ambassador to the United States. He tells of his difficult decision to authorize the 1976 rescue of hijacked hostages from the Entebbe airport. Rabin describes the conflicts that eventually led to his party's defeat after thirty years in power, and he concludes with a shrewd assessment of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and of prospects for peace with Israel's other neighbors, including the Palestinians.
Yitzhak Rabin's memoirs are important not only for the insider's view they offer about Israel and the Middle East, but also for providing a very human portrait of a heroic world leader.
From the book :"Most of you watched that ceremony on the White House lawn with mixed emotions, many of you grinding your teeth. I knew that the hand outstretched to me . . . was the same hand that held the knife, that held the gun, the hand that gave the order to shoot, to kill. Of all the hands in the world, it was not the hand that I wanted or dreamed of touching. . . . On that world stage, I stood as the representative . . . of a state that is willing to give peace a chance. As I have said, one does not make peace with one's friends. One makes peace with one's enemy."—Jerusalem, December 1993
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Yitzhak Rabin
19 booksIsraeli military and political leader Yitzhak Rabin, or Itzhak Rabin commanded forces in the six-day war of 1967, served as prime minister from 1974 to 1977 and from 1992, and shared the Nobel Prize of 1994 for peace; someone assassinated him in 1995.
Yasir Arafat shared the Nobel Prize for peace of 1994 with Rabin and Shimon Peres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak...
Yasir Arafat shared the Nobel Prize for peace of 1994 with Rabin and Shimon Peres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 27, 2022
The autobiography of the Israeli Prime minister and General Yitzhak Rabin. Soldier, Diplomat, and Politician as well as Peacemaker prior to him becoming Prime Minister. Rabin exposes the political machinations as well as the early tenuous nature of the country's existence.
June 11, 2012
Yitzak Rabin’s memoirs were first published in 1979, five years before he received the Noble Peace Prize and six years before he was assassinated. Rabin’s memoirs are interesting not only because they describe his life, but they also describe the history of the state of Israel; Rabin fought in the Israeli War of Independence and served in the Israeli government. Also very interesting is the afterward to the book by Yoram Peri in which Peri describes Rabin’s contributions to the peace agreements between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Peri shows how Rabin, as an individual, was able to make a difference in the peace process.
August 30, 2012
I know I know. But this book taught me most of the israeli military history that I know, something I wouldn't take the time to learn but it quite interesting. Overall a much better book than I expected it to be.
biographies
October 12, 2013? (auf deutsch gelesen)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews