ASSASSINATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST : Voices

“Rabin was an ardent advocate of state terrorism and believed that the Zionist entity should break every international norm in the pursuit of its sinister goals.”

-- Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, in a dispatch headlined “Rabin Dead, Paid in Own Coin”

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“There is only one way to counter extremism on both sides, and that is to press ahead with the peace process.”

-- A spokesman for the government of Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel a year ago

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“Yitzhak Rabin, one of Israel’s most visionary leaders, tonight gave his life for the cause of peace. We will do everything in our power to deny the apparent assassin his ultimate goal--an end to the peace process and another generation of hatred and war in the Middle East.”

-- American Jewish Congress statement

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“I just hope and pray that his legacy of courageous peace effort will not be disturbed, but will be carried on by many more Israelis than had given him support in the past.”

-- Former President Jimmy Carter

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“No longer are we necessarily “A people that dwell alone,” and no longer is it true that “The whole world is against us.”

-- Yitzhak Rabin, after his 1992 election victory

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“I do not regret the death of the foremost head of terrorism in the world. What of it, if the world loses one of its killer criminals? It is the blessing of the blood of the leader Dr. Fathi Shikaki.”

-- Ramadan Abdullah, who replaced Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki--gunned down in Malta last month--in Damascus, Syria

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“I am horrified by this terrible attack. . . . “

-- Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Likud Party