Shimon Peres
שמעון פרס
Peres in 1996
9th President of Israel
In office 15 July 2007 – 24 July 2014
Prime Minister	Ehud Olmert Benjamin Netanyahu
Preceded by	Moshe Katsav
Succeeded by	Reuven Rivlin
8th Prime Minister of Israel
In office 4 November 1995[a] – 18 June 1996
President	Ezer Weizman
Preceded by	Yitzhak Rabin
Succeeded by	Benjamin Netanyahu
In office 13 September 1984 – 20 October 1986
President	Chaim Herzog
Preceded by	Yitzhak Shamir
Succeeded by	Yitzhak Shamir
Acting 22 April 1977 – 21 June 1977
President	Ephraim Katzir
Preceded by	Yitzhak Rabin
Succeeded by	Menachem Begin
Member of the Knesset
In office 17 April 2006 – 13 June 2007
In office 30 November 1959 – 15 January 2006
Ministerial portfolios
1969–1970	Immigrant Absorption
1970–1974	Communications Transportation
1974–1977	Defense Information
1984	Internal Affairs Religious Affairs
1986–1988	Foreign Affairs
1988–1990	Finance
1992–1995	Foreign Affairs
1995–1996	Defense
2001–2002	Foreign Affairs
Personal details
Born	Szymon Perski (1923-08-02)2 August 1923 Wiszniew, Nowogródek Voivodeship, Poland (now Vishnyeva, Minsk Region, Belarus)
Died	28 September 2016(2016-09-28) (aged 93) Ramat Gan, Israel
Resting place	Mount Herzl, Jerusalem
Nationality	Israeli
Political party	Mapai (1959–1965) Rafi (1965–1968) Labor (1968–2005) Kadima (2005–2016)
Other political affiliations	Alignment (1965–1991)
Spouse	Sonya Gelman ​ ​ (m. 1945; died 2011)​
Relations	Lauren Bacall (cousin) Uzi Peres (nephew)
Children	Tsvia Yoni Chemi
Education	The New School New York University Harvard University
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize (1994)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Israel
Branch/service	Haganah Israel Defense Forces
a. ^ Acting: 4–22 November 1995

Shimon Peres (/ʃiːˌmoʊn ˈpɛrɛs, -ɛz/ shee-MOHN PERR-ess, -⁠ez;^[1][2][3] Hebrew: שמעון פרס [ʃiˌmon ˈpeʁes] ^ⓘ; born Szymon Perski, Polish: [ˈʂɨmɔn ˈpɛrskʲi]; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of Israel from 2007 to 2014. He was a member of twelve cabinets and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years.^[4] Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and except for a three-month-long interregnum in early 2006, served as a member of the Knesset continuously until he was elected president in 2007. Serving in the Knesset for 48 years (with the first uninterrupted stretch lasting more than 46 years), Peres is the longest serving member in the Knesset's history. At the time of his retirement from politics in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation.^[5]

From a young age, he was renowned for his oratorical brilliance, and was chosen as a protégé by David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding father.^[6] He began his political career in the late 1940s, holding several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. His first high-level government position was as deputy director general of defense in 1952 which he attained at the age of 28, and director general from 1953 until 1959.^[7] In 1956, he took part in the historic negotiations on the Protocol of Sèvres,^[8] which was described by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden as the "highest form of statesmanship".^[9] In 1963, he held negotiations with U.S. President John F. Kennedy, which resulted in the sale of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel, the first sale of U.S. military equipment to Israel.^[10] Peres represented Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, Labor and Kadima in the Knesset, and led Alignment and Labor.^[11]

Peres first succeeded Yitzhak Rabin as acting prime minister briefly during 1977, before becoming prime minister from 1984 to 1986. As foreign minister under Prime Minister Rabin, Peres engineered the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty,^[12] and won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the Oslo Accords peace talks with the Palestinian leadership.^[7] In 1996, he founded the Peres Center for Peace, which has the aim of "promot[ing] lasting peace and advancement in the Middle East by fostering tolerance, economic and technological development, cooperation and well-being."^[13] After suffering a stroke, Peres died in 2016 near Tel Aviv.^[14][15]

Early life

Shimon Peres was born Szymon Perski, on 2 August 1923,^[16] in Wiszniew, Poland (now Vishnyeva, Belarus), to Yitzhak (1896–1962) and Sara (1905–1969, née Meltzer) Perski.^[7][17] The family spoke Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian at home, and Peres learned Polish at school. He then learned to speak English and French.^[18] His father was a wealthy timber merchant, later branching out into other commodities; his mother was a librarian. Peres had a younger brother, Gershon.^[19] He was related to the American film star Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske), and they were described as first cousins,^[20] but Peres said, "In 1952 or 1953, I came to New York... Lauren Bacall called me, said that she wanted to meet, and we did. We sat and talked about where our families came from, and discovered that we were from the same family... but I'm not exactly sure what our relation is... It was she who later said that she was my cousin; I didn't say that".^[21]

Shimon Peres (standing, third from right) with his family, ca. 1930

Peres told Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson that he had been born as a result of a blessing his parents had received from a chassidic rebbe and that he was proud of it.^[22] Peres's grandfather, Rabbi Zvi Meltzer, a grandson of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, had a great impact on his life. In an interview, Peres said: "As a child, I grew up in my grandfather's home. … I was educated by him. … My grandfather taught me Talmud. It was not as easy as it sounds. My home was not an observant one. My parents were not Orthodox but I was Haredi. At one point, I heard my parents listening to the radio on the Sabbath and I smashed it."^[23] When he was a child, Peres was taken by his father to Radun to receive a blessing from Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (known as "the Chofetz Chaim").^[24] As a child, Peres would later say, "I did not dream of becoming president of Israel. My dream as a boy was to be a shepherd or a poet of stars."^[25] He inherited his love of French literature from his maternal grandfather.^[26]

In 1932, Peres's father immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and settled in Tel Aviv. The family followed him in 1934.^[19] He attended Balfour Elementary School and High School, and Geula Gymnasium (High School for Commerce) in Tel Aviv. At 15, he transferred to Ben Shemen agricultural school and lived on Kibbutz Geva for several years.^[19] Peres was one of the founders of Kibbutz Alumot.

In 1941, he was elected Secretary of HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed, a Labor Zionist youth movement, and in 1944 returned to Alumot, where he had an agricultural training and worked as a farmer and a shepherd.^[27]

Peres at 13-years-old in 1936

At age 20, he was elected to the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed national secretariat, where he was only one of two Mapai party supporters, out of the 12 members. Three years later, he took over the movement and won a majority. The head of Mapai, David Ben-Gurion, and Berl Katznelson began to take an interest in him, and appointed him to Mapai's secretariat.^[28]

In 1944, Peres led an illicit expedition into the Negev, then a closed military zone requiring a permit to enter. The expedition, consisting of a group of teenagers, along with a Palmach scout, a zoologist, and an archaeologist, had been funded by Ben-Gurion and planned by Palmach head Yitzhak Sadeh, as part of a plan for future Jewish settlement of the area so as to include it in the Jewish state.^[29] The group was arrested by a Bedouin camel patrol led by a British officer, taken to Beersheba (then a small Arab town) and incarcerated in the local jail. All of the participants were sentenced to two weeks in prison, and as the leader, Peres was also heavily fined.^[30] The expedition came across a nest of bearded vultures, called peres in Hebrew, and from this Peres took his Hebrew name.^[31]

All of Peres's relatives who remained in Wiszniew in 1941 were murdered during the Holocaust,^[32] many of them (including Rabbi Meltzer) burned alive in the town's synagogue.^[33]

In 1945, Peres married Sonya Gelman, who preferred to remain outside the public eye. They had three children.^[34]

In 1946, Peres and Moshe Dayan were chosen as the two youth delegates in the Mapai delegation to the Zionist Congress in Basel.^[28]

In 1947, Peres joined the Haganah, the predecessor of the Israel Defense Forces. David Ben-Gurion made him responsible for personnel and arms purchases; he was appointed to head the naval service when Israel received independence in 1948.^[29]

Peres was director of the Defense Ministry's delegation in the United States in the early 1950s. While in the U.S. he studied English, economics, and philosophy at The New School and New York University, and completed a four-month advanced management course at Harvard University.^{[19][35][36][37]}

Director General of the Ministry of Defense (1953-1959)

In 1952, Peres was appointed deputy director general of the Ministry of Defense, and the following year, he was promoted to director general.^[29] At age 29, he was the youngest person to hold this position.^[38] He was involved in arms purchases and establishing strategic alliances that were important for the State of Israel. He was instrumental in establishing close relations with France, securing massive amounts of quality arms that, in turn, helped to tip the balance of power in the region.^[39]

In 1955, he testified against Minister of Defense Pinhas Lavon in what became known as the Lavon Affair.

Owing to Peres's mediation, Israel acquired the advanced Dassault Mirage III French jet fighter, established the Dimona nuclear reactor and entered into a tri-national agreement with France and the United Kingdom, positioning Israel in what would become the 1956 Suez Crisis. Peres continued as a primary intermediary in the close French-Israeli alliance from the mid-1950s,^[29] although from 1958, he was often involved in tense negotiations with Charles de Gaulle over the Dimona project.^[40]

Peres is considered to have been the architect of Israel's secret nuclear weapons program in the 1960s, and he stated that, in the 1960s, he recruited Arnon Milchan, an Israeli-American Hollywood film producer, billionaire businessman, and secret arms dealer and intelligence operative, to work for the Israeli Bureau of Scientific Relations (LEKEM or LAKAM), a secret intelligence organization tasked with obtaining military technology and science espionage.^[41]

1956 Suez Crisis

Main article: Suez Crisis

Peres (center) with Ezer Weizman and King Mahendra of Nepal in 1958

From 1954, as director general of the Ministry of Defense, Peres was involved in the planning of the 1956 Suez War, in partnership with France and Britain. Peres was sent by David Ben-Gurion to Paris, where he held secret meetings with the French government.^[42] Peres was instrumental in negotiating the Franco-Israeli agreement for a military offensive.^[43] In November 1954, Peres visited Paris, where he was received by the French Defense Minister Marie-Pierre Kœnig, who told him that France would sell Israel any weapons it wanted to buy.^[44] By early 1955, France was shipping large amounts of weapons to Israel.^[44] In April 1956, following another visit to Paris by Peres, France agreed to disregard the Tripartite Declaration, and supply more weapons to Israel.^[45] During the same visit, Peres informed the French that Israel had decided upon war with Egypt in 1956.^[46] Throughout the 1950s, an extraordinarily close relationship existed between France and Israel, characterised by unprecedented cooperation in the fields of defense and diplomacy. For his work as the architect of this relationship, Peres was awarded the highest order of the French, the Legion of Honor, as Commander.^[38][47]

At Sèvres, Peres took part in planning alongside Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, Christian Pineau and Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces General Maurice Challe, and British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd and his assistant Sir Patrick Dean.^[8] Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene, purportedly to separate the warring Israeli and Egyptian forces, instructing both to withdraw to a distance of 16 kilometres from either side of the canal.^[48] The British and French would then argue, according to the plan, that Egypt's control of such an important route was too tenuous, and that it needed be placed under Anglo-French management. The agreement at Sèvres was initially described by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden as the "highest form of statesmanship".^[9] The three allies, especially Israel, were mainly successful in attaining their immediate military objectives. However, the extremely hostile reaction to the Suez Crisis from both the United States and the USSR forced them to withdraw, resulting in a failure of Britain and France's political and strategic aims of controlling the Suez Canal.

Early Knesset career (1959–1974)

Shimon Peres with Yitzak Rabin and Levi Eshkol in 1964

Peres was first elected to the Knesset in the 1959 elections^[49][29] as a member of the Mapai party.^[38] He was given the role of deputy minister of defense, which he filled until 1965 (holding this position in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th governments of Israel under Prime Ministers David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol).^[38] In this position, he held negotiations with John F. Kennedy, which concluded with the sale of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel, the first sale of US military equipment to Israel.^[10] Peres expressed great appreciation and praise for the American decision to sell Hawk missiles in a speech to the Knesset on 25 June 1963.^[50]

Peres resigned from the 12th government in late May 1965, citing the growing rift between Prime Minister Eshkol and former prime minister Ben-Gurion (Peres was aligned with Ben Gurion).^[51][52] In 1965, Peres and Moshe Dayan were among those that left Mapai with David Ben-Gurion when Ben-Gurion formed a new party, Rafi.^[38] Peres was a co-founder of the Rafi party.^[53] The party reconciled with Mapai in 1968, merging to form the Israeli Labor Party. The Labor Party then joined the Alignment (a left-wing alliance).^[38]

In 1969, Peres was appointed minister of immigrant absorption in the 15th government (led by Prime Minister Golda Meir), and in 1970 (also in the 15th government), he became minister of transportation and communications.^[38] After this, he served as minister of information in the Meir-led 16th government.^[29][38]

Minister of Defense (1974–1977)

Peres was appointed minister of defense in the Yitzhak Rabin-led 17th government, after having been Rabin's chief rival for the post of Labor Party leader (and, in effect, the Israeli premiership) in the 1974 Israeli Labor Party leadership election that was held after Golda Meir resigned in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War.^[29][38]

Unofficial acting premiership (1977)

On 7 April 1977, Prime Minister Rabin announced that, in the wake of a foreign currency scandal involving his wife, he would be stepping down prior to the 1977 Knesset election.^[64] Peres made himself a candidate to replace him as the new Labor Party leader. Initially, Foreign Minister Yigal Allon also made himself a candidate. However, Allon and Peres reached an agreement that Peres would appoint Allon to any ministerial position that Allon preferred in exchange from his withdrawal of his candidacy. Following Allon's withdrawal, the Labor Party leadership announced on 10 April 1977 that he had chosen to endorse Peres as the party's new leader. On 11 April 1977, the 815-member Central Committee of the party elected Peres by acclamation as the party's new leader.^[61][65][66]

Rabin ended his active service as prime minister on 22 April 1977, and Peres became Israel's unofficial acting prime minister. The reason why Peres was not officially the holder of this office was that Rabin could not, under Israeli law, resign from his position as prime minister because the government was, at the time, a caretaker government.^{[38][67][68][69][70]}

In his first election as party leader, Peres led Labor Party and the Alignment coalition to its first ever electoral defeat, and the result afforded the first-place Likud party (led by Menachem Begin) the ability to form a coalition that excluded the left. When the new Likud-led government was formed on 20 June 1977^[71] Peres' time as the unofficial acting prime minister ended.

Labor in opposition (1977–1984)

Once the Likud-led government took power, Labor and the Alignment bloc entered the Knesset opposition for the first time in its history,^[72] and Peres assumed the unofficial role of Knesset opposition leader.^[53]

In 1978, Peres was elected vice president of Socialist International.^[73] Through his role within the leadership of this organization, Peres befriended foreign politicians including Willy Brandt, Bruno Kreisky, members of the British Labour Party, and politicians from parts of Africa and Asia.^[74]

After handily winning reelection as Labor Party leader in 1980 (defeating a challenge from Rabin, who was attempting a comeback to the leadership),^[61] Peres led his party to another, narrower, loss in the 1981 elections.

Labor–Likud grand coalition rotation government (1984–1988) and first premiership

In the 1984 elections (Peres' third election as Labor Party leader), the Alignment coalition won more seats than any other party, but the left-wing failed to win the majority of 61 seats needed to form a coalition on their own. Alignment and Likud agreed to an unusual “rotation" arrangement to form a grand coalition unity government during which, for the first twenty-five months, Peres would serve as prime minister and the Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir would be foreign minister, with the two swapping positions thereafter for the second half of the term.^[29][38][75]

First premiership (1984–1986)

See also: Twenty-first government of Israel

Prime Minister Peres delivers a speech in front of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants, 2 October 1985

Peres was regarded to be a popular prime minister in his two years as premier under the rotation arrangement.^[76] During a portion of his premiership, he also held the position of minister of religious affairs.^[53]

Military policy and international relations

Among the most noteworthy moments of his first tenure as prime minister was Operation Wooden Leg (a long-range Israeli airstrike against the PLO headquarters in Tunisia) and a trip to Morocco to confer with King Hassan II.^[77][78]

In 1985, Peres publicly supported the quick pursuit of a military pullback from Beirut to Israel's south Lebanon security belt.^[79] A partial Israeli pullback had earlier been approved in 1983 by the Begin-headed Likud-led government that had been in power at that time.^[80]

1985 Israel Economic Stabilization Plan

Main article: 1985 Israel Economic Stabilization Plan

A major domestic policy decision of Peres' first premiership was the implementation of the 1985 Israel Economic Stabilization Plan.

By 1985, Israel's economic fortunes were looking dire, with immense and quickly rising inflation (Israel was experiencing hyperinflation), a government budget deficit equal to between twelve and fifteen percent of the nation's GDP and national debt equal to 220% of the nation's GDP, and Israel's foreign currency reserves were quickly dissipating.^[81] With the assistance of the government of the United States, Peres assembled a board of American economist to advise him on the situation. Conditional on him implementing reforms, Peres secured emergency economic assistance from the United States of $750 million (equivalent to 3.5% of the nation's GDP at the time) annually over a two-year period.^[82]

Peres was initially hesitant to take the drastic measures that he ultimately would pursue, as they had the strong potential of proving unpopular and came with a risk of potentially creating a drastic increase in unemployment.^[82] Peres ultimately was convinced to push through the 1985 Israel Economic Stabilization Plan. Once convinced, he was assertive in pushing for the passage of the program, which was quickly after approved by his cabinet on 1 July 1985. This program had quick success in improving the course of the Israeli economy. By the end of the year, inflation immensely decreased. Additionally, the shekel stabilized and the government balanced its budget. While Israel would subsequently slide into a recession, the stabilization has been regarded as an important and greatly successful model for addressing economies in crisis, and has been credited with saving the nation's economy.^[81][82][83]

Minister of Finance in a Likud-led grand coalition government (1988–1990)

In 1988 the Alignment, led by Peres, suffered another narrow defeat. This came despite the fact that polling in 1988 showed Peres to be the most popular politician in the nation.^[84] Peres agreed to renew the grand coalition with the Likud, this time conceding the premiership to Shamir for the entire term. In the grand coalition unity government of 1988–90 (the twenty-third government of Israel), Peres served as minister of finance and also continued to be the designated acting prime minister of Israel.

Labor's return to the opposition (1990–1992)

Minister of Foreign Affairs in Rabin's Labor-led government (1992–1995)

After the Labor Party was successful in the 1992 Knesset election and Rabin became prime minister again, Peres became foreign minister in the Rabin-led twenty-fifth government of Israel.^[29] Peres had previously served as foreign minister from 1986 through 1988.

Israel–Jordan peace treaty

Shimon Peres (left) with Yitzhak Rabin (center) and King Hussein of Jordan (right), prior to signing the Israel–Jordan peace treaty

On 26 October 1994, Jordan and Israel signed the Israel–Jordan peace treaty,^[12] which had been initiated by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. The ceremony was held in the Arava valley of Israel, north of Eilat and near the Jordanian border. Prime Minister Rabin and Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali signed the treaty and the President of Israel Ezer Weizman shook hands with King Hussein. United States President Bill Clinton observed, accompanied by United States Secretary of State Warren Christopher, as well as the foreign ministers of eleven other nations (including Russia, which had joined the United States as a formal co-sponsor of the peace talks that led to the treaty). The treaty brought an end to 46 years of official war between Israel and Jordan. It was only the second full peace agreement that Israel had reached with an Arab nation, after the Camp David Accords signed with Egypt in 1978.^[86]

Oslo peace process with Palestine

Main article: Oslo Accords

Peres signing Oslo I on 13 September 1993

Rabin's 1992 campaign for Labor had primarily been run on the idea of negotiating peace with the Palestinians. This campaign had succeeded as a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was popular among the Israeli public at the time. The twenty-fifth government of Israel was arguably more pro-peace government than any previous Israeli government.^[75] It would begin negotiations with the Yasser Arafat-led Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

Peres was involved in secret peace negotiations between Prime Minister Rabin's government and Arafat's PLO organization. These negotiations were held over several months in 1992 and 1993. As part of the negotiations, Peres secretly flew to Oslo, Norway on 19 August 1993. The ultimate agreement outlined a peace process between Israel and Palestine, which would include the establishment of an interim Palestinian government within both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. On 13 September 1993, Peres signed the initial Oslo I Accord on behalf of the Israeli government at in a ceremony at the United States' White House, with Rabin in attendance.^[87]

Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat receiving the Nobel Peace Prize following the Oslo Accords

In 1994, in recognition of the Oslo Accords, Peres, Rabin and Arafat were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.^[87] This was the second (and most recent) instance in which an Israeli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin had previously jointly received the honor with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1978. This was also the second time that the award had been given in recognition of middle east peacemaking efforts, with the 1978 award having been the previous instance of this.^[88] The awarding of the prize to the three has not been without controversy. After it was decided they would be given the award, Kåre Kristiansen resigned from the Nobel Peace Prize committee in protest of Arafat receiving the award, believing Arafat to be, "too tainted by violence, terror and torture".^[88] In 2002, a number of members of the Norwegian committee that awards the annual Nobel Peace Prize would state they regretted that Mr. Peres's prize could not be recalled. Because he had not acted to prevent Israel's re-occupation of Palestinian territory, he had not lived up to the ideals he expressed when he accepted the prize, and he was involved in human rights abuses.^[89]

Negotiations on further terms continued, with Peres continuing to be an integral player.^[90][91] On 28 September 1995, Rabin and Arafat jointly signed a second major agreement, which has popularly been referred to as "Oslo II".^[87][90]

Second premiership (1995–1996)

Peres (far left) and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (far right) during the 4 November 1995 peace rally at which Rabin was assassinated

Shimon Peres with U.S. President Bill Clinton at the White House, April 1996

While the Oslo peace policies, at the time, enjoyed the support of most Israelis, they also faced intense opposition from extreme members of Israel’s right-wing.^[75] In response to intense street protests by right-wing opponents of the Oslo peace process, a coalition of left-wing parties and peace groups organized a rally in support of the peace process in Tel Aviv's Kings Square on 4 November 1995, which both Prime Minister Rabin and Peres attended. While making his way from the stage to his car after concluding his speech to the gathered crowd of more than 100,000 people, Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing Israeli Jew who opposed the peace process.^{[87][92][93][94][95]}

After Rabin's assassination, Peres was made acting prime minister and acting defense minister of a provisional government.^[38][93][96] On 14 November 1995, the Labor Party confirmed Peres as its new leader, which thereby cleared the last formality before he could be invited by President Ezer Weizman to form a new government.^[61][97] On 15 November 1995, Peres was invited by to form a new government. On 21 November, Peres signed a coalition agreement between Labor, Meretz and Yiud (which had been members of Rabin's government), which was formally approved by the Knesset the next day, establishing a new government with Peres as prime minister.^[96]

Peres' second stint as prime minister (both acting and official) ultimately lasted a total of seven months. During this time, he attempted to maintain the momentum of the peace process.^[38]

On 10 February 1996, Peres made the widely expected announcement that he would call early elections, moving the elections to late May, five months earlier than they otherwise were to be held. The election would be the first to use a new system in which the prime minister was directly elected in a vote coinciding with the Knesset election.^[95] Peres had hoped that early elections would deliver a mandate for his pursuit of a two-state solution.^[98] Peres had called the elections early because of promising polls.^[95] Peres was heavily leading in the polls for the prime minister vote at the time the election was called, with polls showing him to have between a twenty and twenty-five percent lead.^[53][95] Additionally, Labor was also leading in polls for the Knesset vote. Despite the promising polls, however, some in Labor had, even at this time, expressed concerns about the ability of Peres to win, given his failure to deliver an outright win for the Labor Party during his earlier stint as party leader.^[95] Peres' lead in the polls began to decrease after the Jaffa Road bus bombings on 25 February 1996. However, even in the last month before the election, Peres enjoyed a smaller lead of around five percent.^[53]

On 11 April 1996, Peres initiated Operation Grapes of Wrath,^[99] which was triggered by Hezbollah Katyusha rockets fired into Israel in response to the killing of two Lebanese by an IDF missile. Israel conducted massive air raids and extensive shelling in southern Lebanon. 106 Lebanese civilians died in the shelling of Qana, when a UN compound was hit in an Israeli shelling.^[100]

During his term, Peres promoted the use of the internet in Israel and created the first website of an Israeli prime minister.^[101]

Subsequent Knesset career (1996–2007)

Interim Labor Party leader (2003–2005)

After the Labor Party suffered a crushing defeat in the 2003 Knesset election while under the leadership of Mitzna, Peres was made interim leader of the party on 19 June 2003.^[117]

Vice Prime Minister in a Likud-led grand coalition government (2005)

Peres led the Labor Party into a coalition with Sharon once more, reaching an agreement the end of 2004, and entering the party into the thirtieth government of Israel in January 2005. This came after the Sharon's support of "disengagement" from Gaza presented a diplomatic program that Labor could support.^[38] Sharon made Peres vice prime minister.

Peres in 2005

As interim party leader, Peres favored putting off the elections for as long as possible. He claimed that an early election would jeopardize both the September 2005 Gaza withdrawal plan and the standing of the party in a national unity government with Sharon. However, the majority pushed for an earlier date, as younger members of the party, among them Amir Peretz, Ophir Pines-Paz and Isaac Herzog, overtook established leaders such as Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Haim Ramon in the party ballot to divide up government portfolios.^[118]

Presidency (2007–2014)

Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East (2009)

Shimon Peres meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office, 5 May 2009

Shimon Peres and the Foreign Minister of Brazil, Celso Amorim, meet in Brasília, 11 November 2009

Shimon Peres addressing a gathering of the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem (2010)

On 13 June 2007, Peres was elected president of the State of Israel by the Knesset. 58 of 120 members of the Knesset voted for him in the first round (whereas 38 voted for Reuven Rivlin, and 21 for Colette Avital). His opponents then backed Peres in the second round and 86 members of the Knesset voted in his favor,^[125] while 23 objected. He resigned from his role as a member of the Knesset the same day, having been a member since November 1959 (except for a three-month period in early 2006), the longest serving in Israeli political history. Peres was sworn in as president on 15 July 2007.^[126]

Israel must not only be an asset but a value. A moral, cultural and scientific call for the promotion of man, every man. It must be a good and warm home for Jews who are not Israelis, as well as for Israelis who are not Jews. And it must create equal opportunities for all, without discriminating between religion, nationality, community or sex... I have seen Israel in its most difficult hours and also in moments of achievement and spiritual uplifting. My years place me at an observation point from which can be viewed the scene of our reviving nation, spread out in all its glory... Permit me to remain an optimist. Permit me to be a dreamer of his people. If sometimes the atmosphere is autumnal, and also if today, the day seems suddenly grey, the president Israel has chosen will never tire of encouraging, awakening and reminding - because spring is waiting for us. The spring will definitely come.

— Shimon Peres, President's inaugural address, July 2007^[25]

On 20 November 2008, Peres received an honorary knighthood, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George from Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace in London.^[127]

In June 2011, he was awarded the honorary title of sheikh by Bedouin dignitaries in Hura for his efforts to achieve Middle East peace. Peres thanks his hosts by saying "This visit has been a pleasure. I am deeply impressed by Hura. You have done more for yourselves than anyone else could have". He told the Mayor of Hura, Dr. Muhammad Al-Nabari, and members of Hura's governing council, that they were "part of the Negev. It cannot be developed without developing the Bedouin community, so that it may keep its traditions while joining the modern world."^[128]

Post-presidency and death

Peres announced in April 2013 that he would not seek to extend his tenure beyond 2014. His successor, Reuven Rivlin, was elected on 10 June 2014 and took office on 24 July 2014.

In July 2016, Peres founded the 'Israel innovation center' in the Arab neighbourhood of Ajami, Jaffa, aiming to encourage young people from around the world to be inspired by technology.^[129]

On 13 September 2016, Peres suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalized at Sheba Medical Center. His condition was reported to be very serious, as he had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and significant bleeding.^[130] Two days later, he was reported as being in a serious but stable condition.^[131] However, on 26 September, an examination found irreversible damage to his brainstem, indicating that it was not possible for him to recover, and the following day, his medical condition deteriorated significantly.^[132] He died on 28 September at the age of 93.^[133][134]

Funeral

Peres's grave on the Great Leaders of the Nation section of Mount Herzl

The funeral was held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on 30 September 2016, with his burial place in the Great Leaders of the Nation section between former Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir.^[138][139]

About 4,000 mourners and world leaders from 75 countries attended the funeral, with President Barack Obama among those who gave a eulogy.^[140][141] Since the funeral for Nelson Mandela, this was only the second time Obama traveled overseas for the funeral of a foreign leader.^[142] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke.^[143][144] Among the other delegates in attendance and speaking were former President Bill Clinton.^[145][146] Other delegates included PA President Mahmoud Abbas, President François Hollande of France, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, German President Joachim Gauck, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and King Felipe VI of Spain.^[142] The UK delegation included Prince Charles, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, former Prime Ministers David Cameron, Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair, and Britain's chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

Political views

Peres described himself as a "Ben-Gurionist", after his mentor Ben-Gurion.^[147] He felt that Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel was a means to a progressive end in which the State of Israel both inspire the world and survive in a region of the world where it was unwelcome.^[148]

As a younger man, Peres was once considered a "hawk".^[149] He was a protégé of Ben-Gurion and Dayan and an early supporter of the West Bank settlers during the 1970s. However, after becoming the leader of his party his stance evolved. Subsequently, he was seen as a dove, and a strong supporter of peace through economic cooperation. While still opposed, like all mainstream Israeli leaders in the 1970s and early 1980s, to talks with the PLO, he distanced himself from settlers and spoke of the need for "territorial compromise" over the West Bank and Gaza. For a time he hoped that King Hussein of Jordan could be Israel's Arab negotiating partner rather than Yasser Arafat. Peres met secretly with Hussein in London in 1987 and reached a framework agreement with him, but this was rejected by Israel's then Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir. Shortly afterward the First Intifada erupted, and whatever plausibility King Hussein had as a potential Israeli partner in resolving the fate of the West Bank evaporated. Subsequently, Peres gradually moved closer to support for talks with the PLO, although he avoided making an outright commitment to this policy until 1993.

Peres was perhaps more closely associated with the Oslo Accords than any other Israeli politician (Rabin included) with the possible exception of his own protégé, Yossi Beilin. He remained an adamant supporter of the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian Authority since their inception despite the First Intifada and the al-Aqsa Intifada (Second Intifada). However, Peres supported Ariel Sharon's military policy of operating the Israeli Defense Forces to thwart suicide bombings.

Peres's foreign policy outlook was markedly realist. To placate Turkey,^[150] Peres downplayed the Armenian genocide.^[151] Peres stated: "We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide."^{[152][153][154]} Although Peres himself did not retract the statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry later issued a cable to its missions which stated that "The minister absolutely did not say, as the Turkish news agency alleged, 'What the Armenians underwent was a tragedy, not a genocide.'"^[151] However, according to Armenian news agencies, the statement released by the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles did not include any mention that Peres had not said that the events were not genocide.^[151]

On the issue of the nuclear program of Iran and the supposed existential threat this poses for Israel, Peres stated, "I am not in favor of a military attack on Iran, but we must quickly and decisively establish a strong, aggressive coalition of nations that will impose painful economic sanctions on Iran", adding "Iran's efforts to achieve nuclear weapons should keep the entire world from sleeping soundly." In the same speech, Peres compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his call to "wipe Israel off the map" to the genocidal threats to European Jewry made by Adolf Hitler in the years prior to the Holocaust.^[155] In an interview with Army Radio on 8 May 2006 he remarked that "the president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map."^[156] However, after his death it was revealed that Peres had said that he prevented a military strike on Iran's nuclear program that had been ordered by Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak in 2010.^[157]

Peres was a proponent of Middle East economic integration.^[158]

Personal life and family

In May 1945, Peres married Sonya Gelman, whom he had met in the Ben Shemen Youth Village, where her father served as a carpentry teacher. The couple married after Sonya finished her military service as a truck driver in the British Army during World War II. Through the years Sonya chose to stay away from the media and keep her privacy and the privacy of her family, despite her husband's extensive political career.^[166] Sonya Peres was unable to attend Shimon's 2007 presidential inauguration ceremony because of ill health.^[34] With the election of Peres for president, Sonya Peres, who had not wanted her husband to accept the position, announced that she would stay in the couple's apartment in Tel Aviv and not join her husband in Jerusalem. The couple thereafter lived separately.^[166] She died on 20 January 2011, aged 87, from heart failure at her apartment in Tel Aviv.^[167]

Shimon and Sonya Peres had three children. Their eldest child was a daughter, Dr. Tsvia ("Tsiki") Walden, who became a linguist and professor at Beit Berl Academic College. Their middle child was a son, Yoni, who became director of Village Veterinary Center, a veterinary hospital on the campus of Kfar Hayarok Agricultural School near Tel Aviv. He specializes in the treatment of guide dogs. Their youngest child, Nehemia ("Chemi"), became co-founder and managing general partner of Pitango Venture Capital, one of Israel's largest venture capital funds.^[168] Chemi Peres is a former helicopter pilot in the IAF.

Peres was a cousin of actress Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Persky), although the two only discovered their relation to each other in the 1950s. Recalling this, Peres once remarked, "In 1952 or 1953 I came to New York... Lauren Bacall called me, said that she wanted to meet, and we did. We sat and talked about where our families came from, and discovered that we were from the same family".^[169]

Peres was a polyglot, speaking Polish, French, English, Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. He never lost his Polish accent when speaking in Hebrew.^[26]

Places named after Peres

Following his death, it was announced that Israel's Negev nuclear reactor and atomic research center, that had been constructed in 1958, would be named after Peres. Netanyahu stated: "Shimon Peres worked hard to establish this important facility, a facility which has been very important for Israel's security for generations.."^[177]

Published works

Peres at the 65th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ceremony with Polish president Lech Kaczyński, 2008

Shimon Peres is the author of 11 books, including:

• The Next Step (1965)
• David's Sling (1970) (ISBN 978-0-297-00083-9)
• And Now Tomorrow (1978)
• From These Men: seven founders of the State of Israel (1979) (ISBN 978-0-671-61016-6)
• Entebbe Diary (1991) (ISBN 978-965-248-111-5)
• The New Middle East (1993) (ISBN 978-0-8050-3323-6)
• Battling for Peace: A Memoir (1995) (ISBN 978-0-679-43617-1)
• For the Future of Israel (1998) (ISBN 978-0-8018-5928-1)
• The Imaginary Voyage: With Theodor Herzl in Israel (1999) (ISBN 978-1-55970-468-7)
• Ben Gurion: A Political Life (2011) (ISBN 978-0-8052-4282-9)

Awards and recognition

• 1957: Commander of the Legion of Honour.^[47]
• 1994, 10 December: Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.^[7]
• 2008, 18 November: Honorary doctorate of law from King's College London.^[178]
• 2008, 20 November: Honorarily appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.^[179]
• 2012, 13 June: Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama.^[180]
• 2014, 19 May: The United States House of Representatives voted on H.R. 2939, a bill to award Peres the Congressional Gold Medal.^[180] The bill said that "Congress proclaims its unbreakable bond with Israel."^[181]
• 2015, 31 May: The Solomon Bublick Award of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in recognition of his contributions to the State of Israel, the pursuit of peace, higher education, and science and technology.^[182]

Overview of offices held

Peres twice officially served as prime minister (Israel's head of government). His first stint spanned from 13 September 1984 through 20 October 1986, leading the 21st government during the first half of the 11th Knesset. His second stint lasted from 4 November 1995 through 18 June 1996 (serving in an acting capacity from 4 November through 22 November 1995; and in permanent capacity thereafter), leading the 25th government as interim prime minister and the 26th government as permanent prime minister during the latter portion of the 13th Knesset. In addition to these two official stints as prime minister, Peres is also considered to have served as the de facto acting prime minister from 22 April through 21 June 1977^[69] (with Yitzhak Rabin remaining the de jure prime minister). Peres served as president (Israel's head of state) from 15 July 2007 through 24 July 2014.^[183] Peres was a member of the Knesset (Israel's legislature), first from November 1959 through 15 January 2006 (a record 47-year tenure),^[124] and again from March 2006 through 13 June 2007. His overall Knesset tenure of 48 years is the longest tenure in the history of the Knesset.^[184]

Peres, four times, served as the leader of the Knesset's opposition. For his first three stints in this role, the opposition leader was an unofficial and honorary role. His final stint in the position came after Knesset formalized the role as an official position. Peres was the unofficial opposition leader from 20 June 1977 through 13 September 1984, during the entirety of the 9th and 10th Knessets. During this stint, he led the opposition to the Menachem Begin-led 18th and 19th governments and the Yitzhak Shamir-led 20th government of Israel. His second stint as opposition lasted from 15 March 1990 through 13 July 1992, when in lead the opposition to the Yitzhak Shamir-led 24th government during a portion of the 12th Knesset. Peres' third stint lasted from 18 June 1996 to 1 July 1997, and saw him lead the opposition to the Benjamin Netanyahu-led 24th government during a portion of the 14th Knesset. Peres' final stint as opposition leader lasted from 25 June 2003 through 10 January 2005, and saw him lead the opposition to the Ariel Sharon-led 30th government during a portion of the sixteenth Knesset.

Timeline of periods spent in government and in time spent in Knesset opposition

• In government as a member of Mapai during Mapai-led governments (Nov. 1959–Jun. 1977)
  • Deputy minister in the Ben-Gurion-led 9th government (Dec. 1959–Nov. 1961) and Levi Eshkol-led 10th, 11th, and 12th governments (Nov. 1961–Nov. 1965)
• In opposition as member of Rafi (Nov. 1965–1969)
• In government as member of Labor during Labor-led governments (Dec. 1969–Jun. 1977)
  • Minister in the Golda Meir-led 15th and 16th governments (Dec. 1969–Jun. 1974)
  • Minister in the Yitzhak Rabin-led 17th government (Jun. 1974–Jun. 1977)
    • Labor leader and unofficial acting prime minister Apr. 1977–Jun. 1977
• In opposition as leader of Labor (Jun. 1977–Sep.1984)
• In government as leader of Labor during Likud-Labor grand coalition rotation government (Sep. 1984–Oct. 1986)
  • Prime minister of 21st government (Sep. 1984–Oct. 1986)
  • Minister in Yitzhak Shamir-led 22nd government (Oct. 1986–Dec. 1988)
• In government as leader of Labor during Likud-Labor grand coalition government (Dec. 1988–Mar. 1990)
  • Minister in Yitzhak Shamir-led 23rd government (Dec. 1988–Mar. 1990)
• In opposition as leader of Labor (Mar. 1990–Jun. 1992)
• In opposition as member of Labor (Feb. 1992–Jul. 1992)
• In government as member of Labor during Labor-led government
  • Minister in Yitzhak Rabin-led 25th government (Jul. 1992–Nov. 1995)
• In government as leader of Labor during Labor-led governments
  • Acting prime minister of 25th government (Nov. 4, 1995–Nov. 22, 1995)
  • Prime minister of 26th government (Nov. 1995–Jun. 1996)
• In opposition as leader of Labor (Jun. 1996–Jun. 1997)
• In opposition as member of Labor (Jun. 1996–Jul. 1999)
• In government as member of Labor in Labor-led government (Jul. 1999–Mar. 2001)
  • Minister in Ehud Barak-led 28th government
• In government as member of Labor in Likud-led grand coalition government (Mar. 2001–Nov. 2002)
  • Minister in Ariel Sharon-led 28th government (Mar. 2001–Nov. 2002)
• In opposition as member of Labor (Nov. 2002–Jun. 2003)
• In opposition as interim leader of labor (Jun. 2003–Jan. 2005)
• In government as interim leader of labor in Likud-led grand coalition government (Jan. 2005–Nov. 2005)
  • Minister in Ariel Sharon-led 30th government (beginning Jan. 2005)
• In government as member of Kadima in Kadima/Likud-led government (Nov. 2005–Jan. 2006)
  • Minister in Ariel Sharon-led 30th government (until Jan. 2006)
• In government as member of Kadima in Kadina-led government (May 2006–Jun. 2007)
  • Minister in Ehud Olmert-led 31st government (May 2006–Jun. 2007)

Electoral history

See also

• List of Israeli Nobel laureates
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

References

Further reading

• Bar-Zohar, Michael. Shimon Peres: The Biography (Random House, 2007).
• Crichlow, Scott. "Idealism or Pragmatism? An Operational Code Analysis of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres." Political Psychology 19.4 (1998): 683–706.
• Golan, Matti. The Road to Peace: A Biography of Shimon Peres (Grand Central Pub, 1989).
• Weiner, Justus R. "An Analysis of the Oslo II Agreement in Light of the Expectations of Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas." Michigan Journal of International Law 17.3 (1996): 667–704. online
• Ziv, Guy. Why hawks become doves: Shimon Peres and foreign policy change in Israel (SUNY Press, 2014).
• Ziv, Guy. "Shimon Peres and the French-Israeli Alliance, 1954–9." Journal of Contemporary History 45.2 (2010): 406–429. online
• Ziv, Guy. "The Triumph of agency over structure: Shimon Peres and the Israeli nuclear program." International negotiation 20.2 (2015): 218–241. online

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shimon Peres.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Shimon Peres.

• Official Israeli Presidency website Archived 13 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• Shimon Peres on the Knesset website
• Official channel on YouTube
• The day Peres became a Sheikh! Archived 16 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine(in Persian)
• Peres Center for Peace
• Biography at the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Shimon Peres on Nobelprize.org with the Nobel Lecture
• Shimon Peres biography at the Jewish Virtual Library
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Shimon Peres on Charlie Rose
• Column archive at The Guardian
• Shimon Peres collected news and commentary at Ha'aretz
• Shimon Peres collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
• Shimon Peres collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• BBC – Sharon seals new Israel coalition
• Peres's metaphysical propensity to lose by Matthew Wagner, published in The Jerusalem Post, 10 November 2005.
• Former Labor Leader Shimon Peres Heading For Sharon's new party – recorded Report from IsraCast.
• Shimon Peres speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations about the Israel/Lebanon conflict on 31 July 2006
• Shimon Peres speaks at Cornell University – "A Conversation with Shimon Peres"
• "Presidency rounds off 66-year career" by Amiram Barkat, Haaretz
• President Peres's address to the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, 24 September 2008
• Segment Interview on YouTube by Leon Charney on The Leon Charney Report
• Full Interview on YouTube by Leon Charney on The Leon Charney Report