In June 1992, Yitzhak Rabin participated in a rally in the village of Katzrin to celebrate 25 years of settlement on the Golan Heights. The event took place just a few days before Rabin would be elected prime minister.
The possibility of negotiations between Israel and Syria first appeared on the agenda following the 1991 Madrid Conference, following the first Gulf War. At the time, Golan settlers feared that Israel might withdraw entirely from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. It was amid this environment that Rabin delivered a speech at the rally and made one of his more well-known declarations: “It is inconceivable that even in peacetime we should go down from the Golan. Whoever thinks of such a possibility is forsaking the security of Israel.” A short time later, this statement would be used against him.
