Israeli right wing activist Itamar Ben Gvir has filed a libel suit against IDF Radio, demanding an apology and $400,000 in compensation for the failure to allow him to respond in a debate with Dalia Rabin, daughter of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Sixteen years ago today (Friday), Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stood in front of a square crammed with supporters in Tel Aviv, rallying support for the budding peace process with the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Israel will not hold an official memorial rally to the slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin this year for the first time.

This November will mark 16 years since the Labour leader was killed by a right-wing Jewish extremist during a peace rally.

In 1993 Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) finally reached agreement over the distribution of land with the Oslo Accords, fully named the "Declaration of Principles on Interim Self Government Arrangements".

This was the initial stage in the first direct attempts between the organisations to solve the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.

What was supposed be an event celebrating peace ended as one mourning a tragedy.

More 300,000 people had gathered that night in a square in Tel Aviv for a peace concert, hopeful that the Oslo accords signed by Mr Rabin and PLO chairman Yasir Arafat in 1993, would finally bring an end to the Middle East conflict.

It was not to be. Yigal Amir, an extremist Orthodox Jewish man, shot Mr Rabin as he was leaving the square. Amir is now serving a life sentence for the murder.

There would have been peace in the Middle East had Yitzhak Rabin lived, Bill Clinton has said on the 15th anniversary of the Israeli prime minister’s death.

The former US president, in office at the time of the assassination, wrote in the New York Times that within three years there could have been “a comprehensive agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.

“To be sure, the enemies of peace would have tried to undermine it, but with Rabin’s leadership, I am confident a new era of enduring partnership and economic prosperity would have emerged.”

Yitzhak Rabin’s daughter Dalia has called for Israel to do more to keep the memory of the former prime minister alive at an event to mark the 15th anniversary of his assassination.

Ceremonies were held around Israel, including a candlighting with Israeli President Shimon Peres and a ceremony at the Rabin Centre in Tel Aviv.

Mr Rabin was killed in 1995 by a right-wing Orthodox Jewish fanatic during a peace concert.

As Israelis marked Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria launched a joint surprise attack. They struck the places Israel had won in 1967; in the north the Golan Heights, in the south along the Sinai Peninsula.

Although there had been suggestions for several years that Egypt might hit Israel again, the attack was a surprise and Israel was not prepared to fight the fourth war in its history.