The current diplomatic stagnation goes against his father’s belief in Israel’s need to remain proactive, Rabin said. The Arab Peace Initiative, commonly viewed by Israelis as a “take it or leave it” package deal, can be used as a springboard for further talks.

“I believe Israel gave up on diplomatic initiative for the better part of the 19 years since my father’s assassination,” Rabin said. “Our absence leaves a vacuum which will inevitably be filled by the initiatives of others, and by things we cannot predict, such as intifadas and other [violent] activities.”

Israel’s cooperation with Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia over the course of the summer in negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas to end Operation Protective Edge was not effectively utilized for a broader diplomatic drive, he said.

“Once again we hunker down and stick to our guns instead of leveraging this opportunity, which would allow us to stop this cycle of military operations every year or two,” he said. “I don’t know how many more operations like Protective Edge the Israeli economy can take.”

Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid have recently spoken of the need to develop regional alliances with Arab states, Rabin noted. The point of the Israeli Peace Initiative is to exert public pressure on them to stand by their word.

The Oslo Accords, Rabin said, were meant to replicate the Camp David peace accords signed with Egypt 15 years earlier. Like in Camp David, negotiations with the Palestinians were meant to last five years leading to a permanent status agreement.

On the Israeli right, people often highlight the fact that Rabin never spoke of a fully sovereign Palestinian state, nor of complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza. But Yuval Rabin insinuates that had it come to fruition, Oslo would have likely led to similar Israeli concessions as in Camp David, where it withdrew from the entire Sinai Peninsula in return for full diplomatic relations with Egypt.

“As far as I know, my father never publicly stated how far he’s willing to go and how much he’s willing to give up because you don’t state those things in advance during negotiations,” Rabin said.

While a comprehensive peace proposal with the entire Islamic world didn’t exist in Rabin’s time, he always maintained a regional vision, involving leaders such as Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Hussein in the negotiations.

“The ultimate goal was never to reach peace only with the Palestinians, but rather with the entire Arab world,” Rabin said. “However, there was never an illusion that understandings can be reached in the short term with the entire Islamic world.”