ABSTRACT
The Oslo deal did not occur in a political vacuum. For more than a year prior to the signing ceremony on the White House lawn, important changes in Israeli politics and the thinking of the Israeli government had begun to take shape, creating an environment for making peace with the Palestine Liberation Organization. The public perception of Rabin as a security-minded centrist won him the support of crucial "swing" voters in the middle of the Israeli political spectrum, who normally voted for Likud because its tough approach to security issues contrasted with Labor's center-left image. The combination of pragmatism and military credentials made Yitzhak Rabin perhaps the only Israeli leader capable of seizing the opportunity to make peace that Oslo presented. In March, a wave of fatal stabbings by Palestinians once again sowed panic among the Israeli public, particularly because the attacks occurred largely within the Green Line.
