Assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin condemned.

• Position: Includes a related article on the extension of the UN mission, UNDOF, to Palestinian territories

The assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel on 4 November at a pro-Government rally in Tel. Aviv--an "outrageous act of terror" which had struck "one of the greatest leaders in Israel's history" -- was condemned in the "strongest possible terms" by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

"I pay tribute to the wisdom and vision of Prime Minister Rabin, whose unswerving commitment to his country, and whose recognition of the need for Israelis and Arabs alike to put behind the hostility and bloodshed which had region for decades, led to the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan and the agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)", the Secretary-General stated on 4 November. "Prime Minister Rabin will forever be remembered for his courageous leadership these past three years."

In a message to the special commemorative meeting on 5 December at Headquarters, the Secretary-General said: "There are times that call for greatness: for vision, for courage, for love of humankind. Of all those we call great, the peacemakers are the greatest. ... Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was working for peace on the day that he was killed. He was singing for peace on the night when he was so viciously struck down."

His loss conveyed the "horrifying truth that those who dare to pursue peace walk in the way of terrible danger. And the further they go upon this path, the greater the risk that they run", he stressed. But that cowardly act could not stop progress towards the goal of peace. "Yitzhak Rabin in his death still shows us the way....And we are uplifted by his memory to bear the beacon of peace forward, so that tomorrow will bring the better world he so valiantly sought", Mr. Boutros-Ghali declared.

General Assembly President Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal said Yitzhak Rabin had been "assassinated for believing in a future without bloodshed, a future of tolerance and coexistence". He had paid a "very high price for his pursuit of peace for all", but his example would "live on to inspire others".

Gad Yaacobi of Israel declared: "With Rabin's assassination, we lost a great statesman, a courageous soldier in both war and peace, a fine human being, a devoted son of Israel, the Jewish people and mankind. ...Most of all, he was a soldier for peace who fell in the line of duty."

Madeleine K. Albright of the United States said that "building the future is no longer within the power of Yitzhak Rabin; that responsibility...