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Next week will mark the fifth anniversary of one of the most grief-stricken days in Israeli memory, the day Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot dead by an assassin's bullets. Like the news of John F. Kennedy's assassination, most Jews can recall exactly where they were on Nov. 4, 1995, when they heard of Rabin's death.

That Rabin's killer justified the murder because of the landmark steps the prime minister took toward peace with the Palestinians made it especially tragic. It was even more so, because he was killed by a fellow Jew. And it was after a peace rally, no less.

We can't help but think that Rabin is looking down on his beloved country, horrified.

Rabin's gradual shift from general to peacemaker came not out of his concern for human rights. He was the one, after all, who said, "Break their bones," when the intifada first began. His change of heart grew out of the realization that years of conflict were eating away at Israeli society and that the continued violence was as detrimental to Israelis as it was to Palestinians. In short, he came to believe there was no other choice.

But whatever progress was made toward peace has all but vanished in the last month.

Those with friends and family in Israel have heard despondency in their voices. American Jewish leaders who just returned from a mission to the Jewish state reported more of the same: Israelis feel they have no partner with whom to pursue the peace they so badly long for.

Most Israelis feel Prime Minister Ehud Barak showed an unprecedented willingness to make concessions. And all they got in return was a reprise of the intifada.

We recall the awkward handshake between Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn; Rabin made no secret of his reluctance to grasp the hand of a man he still considered to be a terrorist.

Were he still alive, would this be happening? It's impossible to know. We can only hope that as we mark his yahrzeit, we realize that there are people — on both sides — who are not yet ready to mourn his legacy.