While Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993 included Arab Members of the Knesset (MKs) to caucus with his coalition, they did not become members of the government. Furthermore, Rabin did not support the establishment of a Palestinian state, fearing the backlash of the racist supremacist supporters among Greater Israel fanatics against such a move. Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995, by one of them, Yigal Amir, who had been whipped up by Netanyahu’s vicious campaign against Rabin and Oslo.

Nevertheless, Rabin’s insistence on a “change in axioms” in order to achieve peace was widely quoted then, and is appropriate today. Among his relevant comments are the statement that “the risks of peace are preferable to the grim certainties that await every nation in war.” He also said, “We must think differently, look at things in a different way. Peace requires a world of new concepts, new definitions.”

Palestinian leader Ahmad Tibi, who met on Friday with Opposition bloc leader Yair Golan, said immediately after the vote count showed no bloc with enough votes to form a government, that the Opposition could form a government “if it wants to, if it’s brave enough to.” We are ready “if there’s a hand extended on the other side.”