Rabin Remembered With Calls for Unity

JERUSALEM — As Israel and the Palestinians faced fresh challenges Sunday to their fragile new peace accord, Israelis marked the anniversary of the slaying of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with appeals for unity and warnings that the political violence that claimed his life must never recur.

The memorial rallies and ceremonies for Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish extremist opposed to his peacemaking with the Palestinians, took on a tone of urgency as Israel and the Palestinians prepared to implement their new U.S.-brokered land-for-security agreement and as extremists on both sides geared up to stop them.

The accord, which was reached during a marathon, nine-day summit at the Wye Plantation conference center in Maryland, is scheduled to go into effect today, although the Israeli Cabinet is not expected to vote on it until midweek. The Palestinian Cabinet approved the deal Friday evening.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a special memorial session in parliament for Rabin, called on Israelis to stand together as the agreement goes forward. Under the accord, Israel will hand over an additional 13% of West Bank land in exchange for a comprehensive crackdown against Islamic militants and other measures.

“We are one people with one destiny and one hope in one land,” Netanyahu said. “I pray and hope that we can reach out to each other and together put out the flame of hatred, without blurring the differences of opinion between us. Peace is made first with brothers.”

Earlier Sunday, several demonstrators heckled the prime minister as he laid a wreath in tribute to Rabin during a graveside memorial service at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery. The young men, who were quickly led away by police, shouted “Murderer! Murderer!” at Netanyahu, who did not respond.

In the days after Rabin’s death on Nov. 4, 1995, his widow, Leah, accused Netanyahu, then the leader of the opposition as head of the Likud Party, of helping to create the climate of hatred and fear that led to her husband’s assassination. The convicted assassin, Yigal Amir, has said his aim was to stop the Oslo peace process, which is based on a formula of trading West Bank land for peace.

Netanyahu has denied the allegation. But in recent days, he has found himself the target of angry demonstrations that have recalled those against Rabin. Posters of Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat clasping hands at the Wye summit have been displayed, spattered with red paint, and crowds of right-wing opponents have chanted “Traitor!” outside the prime minister’s home.

Increasingly, though, Israeli leaders across the political spectrum are speaking out against the protests, urging politicians and the public to cool their heated rhetoric.

Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, speaking at the parliament session, called on Israelis to “put an end immediately to all incitement and to all the cries of ‘traitor’ aimed at a prime minister of Israel.” Hostile words, he said, can eventually kill.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, the military arm of the radical Islamic movement Hamas appeared to issue its first direct threat to the government of Arafat, accusing the Palestinian Authority president and his security forces of “treason” for signing the accord.

A leaflet faxed to news agencies in Jerusalem, allegedly by the extremist group, warned that Arafat’s attempts to rein it in by placing its founder under house arrest and detaining hundreds of members in Gaza could push some activists to train their guns on the Palestinian police.

The latest crackdown against Hamas came after the group claimed responsibility for an attack Thursday on a bus filled with children of Jewish settlers in Gaza. A military jeep accompanying the bus took the brunt of the explosion, and one soldier was killed, as was the Palestinian bomber. None of the children was injured.

If the leaflet is authentic, it represents a clear departure from previous statements by Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin and other group leaders that Hamas’ battle is with Israel, not other Palestinians, and that it would not challenge Arafat’s leadership.

But Ismail abu Shanab, a top Hamas political leader who was picked up by Palestinian police after the attack but released over the weekend, said in an interview at his home that the leaflet “contradicted Hamas’ policies” and was not sent by the group.

“This is not Hamas’ way, and we are not responsible for it,” he said.

Imad Faluji, a Palestinian Cabinet minister and former Hamas member who has been trying to mediate between Arafat and the group, emerged from Yassin’s home late Sunday to say that the Hamas leader also had denied any connection to the leaflet.

Earlier, another top leader had explained the group’s philosophy of not responding violently to Palestinian Authority arrests.

“We will absorb all actions against us,” said Ismail Haniya, who was also arrested and released late last week. “We will not change our position. Israel and the U.S. are trying to set a trap for us and provoke an internal fight among Palestinians. . . . We will not fall into the trap.”

Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief Tracy Wilkinson and special correspondent Fayed abu Shamallah in Gaza City contributed to this report.