February 5, 1996
Web posted at: 12:15 a.m. EST
From Correspondent Jerrold Kessel
TEL AVIV, Israel (CNN) -- Israelis still pay homage to their late prime minister at the spot where he was gunned down three months ago. As the country embarks on a national election campaign, the shrine to Yitzhak Rabin's memory is likely to play a critical role.
Prime Minister Shimon Peres' Labor Party is bringing the election forward from its late October schedule.
"We are not overcoming already the trauma of the assassination, but I think that we decided to continue in spite of the great loss of Prime Minister Rabin," said Interior Minister Haim Ramon. (204K AIFF sound or 204K WAV sound)
By moving the elections up, the party is asking Israelis for a mandate for further peace moves. But formal announcement of the new late-May election date has been delayed because of U.S. concerns that the elections would disrupt the gradual progress in the Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations.
With U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher starting a new round of shuttle diplomacy, Israel's chief negotiator Uri Savir sought to allay concerns that the peace process would be iced.
"The world doesn't start turning and the Mideast doesn't' stop its life because of early elections in Israel," Savir said.
Following the Rabin assassination, there has been a dramatic turnaround in public support for the peace movement. Six months ago, Rabin and the right wing candidate for premier -- Benjamin Netanyahu -- were neck and neck. Now polls consistently show Peres running well ahead.
Peres' party will be arguing that it is completing Rabin's peace program, critical for Israel's future security. The opposition agrees that Israeli security is what this election will be all about, but contends that issues of national destiny should not be decided by emotion.
Members of the main opposition, the Likud, are in a bind. They say they're ready for an early election, but are grappling with the dilemma of how to stay true to their old ideology of creating a Greater Israel in the West Bank while adapting a new reality that involves giving up land for peace.
"The Likud has always been a party with consistent principles and also with a consistent capacity to employ or apply those principles to changing realities," Netanyahu said. (128K AIFF sound or 128K WAV sound)
Labor headquarters has a strong campaign headquarters feel, with piles of new party membership forms being processed. And one thing is already clear -- Yitzhak Rabin, in a sense, will be an active participant in this election.
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