. >> host: dan ephron, how popular politically was chris yitzhak rabin in 1995? >> guest: israel was and remains a divided society and divided over the very issues rabin took on. rabin wanted to end israel's military occupation of the west bank and gaza israel's military rule over millions of palestinians. and he was elected by a small margin. so, you know, i think at the time -- and i covered israel at the time. i remember people talking about the country being divided about 50/50 between people who are in favor of handing back some of this territory and people who are absolutely against it. and during the course of his term his popularity waxed and waned in part because his peace process set off a backlash of violence by the extremists on both sides, certainly on the palestinian side with hamas, the islamic group. this was the era where we see the first suicide bombings by palestinians against israelis and that eroded popularity, the popularity of the peace process and the support for rabin as well. >> host: were you in israel on november 4 1995? >> guest: yes,