    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [October 24, 1996]
    [Pages 1910-1911]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Anniversary of the Assassination of Prime Minister
    Yitzhak Rabin of Israel
    October 24, 1996

        Today the Yartziet candle, symbol of the anniversary of a death,
    burns for my friend Yitzhak Rabin. So often, we recognize the true
    measure of a person only in retrospect, when someone is gone, and his or
    her legacy becomes clear. But once in a long while, a figure of
    greatness stands before our eyes, and we recognize it in an instant.
    Yitzhak Rabin was such a figure of greatness. And virtually all of us
    who knew him during his life saw that immediately.
        He lived the history of his nation, from the heroic struggles of
    Israel's birth to the repeated defense of its existence, to the quest
    for peace and acceptance after decades of conflict and bloodshed. He had
    an indomitable will which he dedicated without hesitation to the
    lifelong service of Israel's security.
        For a people who in 2,000 years of exile were too often powerless in
    the face of oppression, Yitzhak Rabin embodied the independence and
    self-sufficiency of modern Israel. And he possessed something else: the
    genius to see after a lifetime of war that the greatest safety for
    Israel's people can be attained when peace and security are one. Through
    deeds as well as words, he helped bring an entire region to the
    threshold of a new and better day. Yitzhak Rabin was truly a light unto
    the nations.
        It was one of the great privileges of my life to know Prime Minister
    Rabin and to have

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    worked with him for the benefit of the people of Israel and all the
    Middle East. I'll always remember the first time we met at the White
    House. He told me that he had a mandate from the people of Israel to
    take calculated risks for peace. And I told him that I would be his
    partner in advancing peace and in minimizing those risks. That was my
    pledge to him, and that remains my commitment to the people of Israel. I
    will do all I can to preserve Yitzhak Rabin's legacy by helping Israel
    to make a secure peace with its neighbors.
        A year has passed. The wounds of loss have not yet healed. But the
    memory of Prime Minister Rabin remains a powerful inspiration to me and
    to people the world over. In March I visited Har Herzl. In keeping with
    the Jewish tradition of only adding to the memory of those who have died
    and never detracting from it, I put a small stone from the South Lawn of
    the White House on his grave. That stone symbolizes the depth of my
    feeling for my friend Yitzhak Rabin and the unshakable bond between our
    two nations, which he did so much to strengthen.
        Today, on the anniversary of his death, I ask all men and women of
    good will to join me in adding to the memory of this remarkable man by
    carrying on the struggle for security and peace for Israel and
    reconciliation for the peoples of the Middle East. Yitzhak Rabin made
    that struggle his last work. Now it is our responsibility to make good
    on his legacy.

    Note: The President's remarks were videotaped at 5 p.m. on October 17 at
    the Sheraton Universal in Los Angeles, CA, for broadcast on October 24.