All of us will have been shocked by the tragedy which rocked the peace process in the Middle East this past weekend, which was the brutal assassination of the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin.
I met Yitzhak Rabin recently on an official visit to the Middle East and I was instantly impressed by him as a man of absolute and unshakeable determination. A life long career in the service of his country combined the arduous tasks of soldier, diplomat and politician. He was almost unique in recent times as a soldier who dedicated his final years to the less tangible but still very considerable risks of peace-making. He knew, as perhaps only a soldier can, the horror of war at first hand and was as resolved as any man I ever met to make a personal contribution to lasting peace. He knew the ups and downs of politics and tasted success and failure in that aspect of his career. He found the process of reconciliation personally difficult, yet did not shirk from the gestures which were necessary to bring a sense of reconciliation about.
If we can take any comfort from the images and pictures which were broadcast from Prime Minister Rabin's funeral yesterday, we can perhaps hope that his death, brutal and tragic as it was, may have copper-fastened the reconciliation he was determined to secure. The poignant image of a blood stained piece of paper with the words of a song of peace written on it will long linger in all our memories and will, we all fervently hope, serve as an inspiration to those who follow in his footsteps.
It will, I know, be the united message of this House in any event that we will do anything we can to help ensure that the process of building a durable peace and a more secure future in the Middle East will not be shaken. On behalf of the Government, I wish to extend our sympathy to the people of Israel on the loss of a great leader and a great peace maker.