Yitzhak Rabin, (born March 1, 1922, Jerusalem—died Nov. 4, 1995, Tel Aviv–Yafo, Israel), First native-born prime minister of Israel. He fought in the first Arab-Israeli War and became chief of staff in 1964. His strategies helped win the Six-Day War in 1967. After retiring from the army (1968), he served as ambassador to the U.S. (1968–73). As head of the Israel Labour Party, he twice served as prime minister (1974–77, 1992–95). During his first tenure, he secured a cease-fire with Syria in the Golan Heights and ordered the raid at Entebbe, Ugan. (see Entebbe raid). As defense minister (1984–90) he responded forcefully to the Palestinian first intifāḍah. In 1993 secret negotiations with the Palestinians yielded a political settlement that called for limited Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, for which he shared the 1994 Nobel Prize for Peace with Shimon Peres and Yāsir ʿArafāt. He was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist.
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