TEL AVIV - Israeli President Shimon Peres on
Saturday used a speech honouring slain premier Yitzhak Rabin to urge
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to stay in power despite frustrations
over the peace process.
"We both signed the Oslo accords and I
address myself to you (Abbas) as a colleague would: Don't give up,"
Peres said at a mass rally in a Tel Aviv square where Rabin was gunned
down in 1995.
He was referring to the deal that gave Palestinians
autonomy, which Peres and Abbas signed at a 1993 White House ceremony
overseen by then US president Bill Clinton, Rabin and late Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat.
At the time, Peres was Israel's foreign minister while Abbas represented the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Abbas
announced on Thursday he will not seek re-election in January, voicing
annoyance at Washington's failure to press Israel to halt settlement
constructions.
His decision has been seen as a major blow to
Washington's efforts to re-launch Middle East peace talks frozen since
Israel's devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip at the turn of the
year.
"I know the sufferings that your people have endured for
the past 50 years... I know my people and the Israeli government and I
tell you that Israel wants real peace," Peres said.
"Maybe next
year will bring independence for the Palestinian people... Next year
could be decisive, it depends on you and on us," he added.
About
20,000 people massed in the square where Rabin was killed by a Jewish
extremist on November 4, 1995, after attending a peace rally.
In
a recorded video message beamed on a giant screen, US President Barack
Obama reaffirmed his administration's support for "two states living
side by side in peace and security."
"America's bonds with our
Israeli allies are unbreakable," Obama said in the brief address,
adding however that "Israel will not find security as long as
Palestinians are in despair.
"We will never loose sight of our shared purpose for a just and lasting peace in Israel, in Palestine and in the arab World."
Bad weather last week delayed the annual event.
Rabin
is revered as a national hero, both for his legendary career as army
chief and for peace efforts in the 1990s that earned him a Nobel peace
prize shared with Israeli President Shimon Peres and the late
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1994, a year after the Oslo accords.