Today marks 10 years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Shai has written a beautiful series of posts about that horrible night, when a murder broke the collective heart of a whole generation of Israelis who believed in peace. And wanted it - so, so badly.

I was living in New York at the time, and a friend of mine called from Israel just as the first reports interrupted the regular radio and television broadcasts. "You can't imagine what's going on here," she wept. "Strangers are hugging and crying on the street."

When my mother called a few hours later, I could hardly speak. Jagged little sobs kept bubbling up in my throat, blocking the words.

That was the second time I cried over Yitzhak Rabin.

The first time was while he gave his speech in the White House Rose Garden, on September 13, 1993, at the ceremony for the signing of the Declaration of Principles that led to the Oslo Accords. You can read the complete text here; below are the excerpts that I will never forget.

Let me say to you, the Palestinians: We are destined to live together, on the same soil in the same land. We, the soldiers who have returned from battle stained with blood, we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes, we who have attended their funerals and cannot look into the eyes of their parents, we who have come from a land where parents bury their children, we who have fought against you, the Palestinians - we say to you today in a loud and clear voice: Enough of blood and tears. Enough.

We have no desire for revenge. We harbor no hatred towards you. We, like you, are people who want to build a home, to plant a tree, to love, live side by side with you - in dignity, in empathy, as human beings, as free men. We are today giving peace a chance and again saying to you: Let us pray that a day will come when we will say, enough, farewell to arms.

.........

Ladies and gentlemen, the time for peace has come.