Bill Clinton to speak at Tel Aviv rally marking Rabin assassination

As memorial ceremonies marking 20 years since the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin begin on Sunday, President Reuven Rivlin is expected to stress in his official address that murderer Yigal Amir will not be pardoned for his crime.

“Only a political process that will lead to the end of our control over millions of Palestinians will end the bloody conflict between the two peoples and allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and quiet”. It was attended by Israeli lawmakers including left-wing Meretz Party leader Zehava Galon, and Zionist Union lawmaker Stav Shaffir.

“It will further deteriorate if we think that being passive is the answer”, he said. “Israeli politicians are becoming more and more extreme”.

The rally was sponsored by Peace Now. Clinton stood between Rabin and the late PLO chief Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords peace agreement in Washington, D.C., in September 1993.

He is now serving a life sentence.

“The path that was stopped in 1995 is very much the path that needs to be taken today”, Peace Now spokeswoman Anat Ben Nun told AFP.

Thousands of Israelis took the streets here calling for new peace talks with Palestinians amid an global effort to quell a month-long Israeli-Palestinian wave of violence.

The recent spate of violence includes nearly daily attacks by Palestinians and violent clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian youth protesters.

Eight Israelis have died in attacks.