Mrs. Clinton Makes Plea for Peace at Rabin FuneralTaking center stage in the country that preoccupied and bedeviled her political campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton met here November 15 with the president and prime minister of Israel and delivered an emotional eulogy for Leah Rabin, who died of cancer on Saturday.In televised remarks at the hillside gravesite, Mrs. Clinton, on her first overseas trip since being elected to the Senate from New York State, made a plea to revive the peace effort begun by Mrs. Rabin's husband, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated five years ago. It was Mrs. Clinton's third visit to Israel. But her previous trips were marked by public meetings with both Palestinians and Israelis. This time she stayed carefully within Israel. In her eulogy for Mrs. Rabin, the first lady said the American people would "always stand by Israel." But Mrs. Clinton dwelt more on her personal friendship with Mrs. Rabin, noting that they had discussed her Senate campaign by phone as recently as a week ago. Among the other guests at the service today were the German president, Johannes Rau, the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, and Dennis Ross, the State Department negotiator. Conspicuously absent were any high-level Palestinian officials or dignitaries from Jordan or Egypt. Yasir Arafat was invited but chose not to attend, though he nonetheless expressed his condolences publicly. |
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