ZE'EV STERNHELL
(Zeev Sternhell)
The murder to which he was referring was the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He had been very active in trying to negotiate a peace treaty with the Palestinians. A minority of right wing, religious fundamentalists were opposed to any peace treaty that would give the Palestinians control over the land that the fundamentalists believed was given to the Jews by God. Israel’s political system was so fractionated with minority parties having so much influence that Rabin was the only leader on the horizon who was influential and powerful enough to transcend the party politics, Since his assassination the peace process has been stalled, and the murder paid off.
Zeev Sternhell was a Polish-born Israeli historian, political scientist, commentator on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and writer. He was one of the world's leading theorists of the phenomenon of fascism. Sternhell headed the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and wrote for Haaretz newspaper.
