Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the eighth <a href="/facts/Prime_minister_of_Israel/NcrzDyr9">prime minister of Israel</a> from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the <a href="/facts/List_of_Presidents_of_Israel/Yw8dtyUy">ninth</a> <a href="/facts/President_of_Israel/KwVP7Dnt">president of Israel</a> from 2007 to 2014. He was a member of twelve <a href="/facts/Cabinet_of_Israel/g3azkmGs">cabinets</a> and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years. Peres was elected to the <a href="/facts/Knesset/vNAUyDAu">Knesset</a> in November 1959 and except for three months out of office 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 <a href="/facts/Head_of_state/U2QzdE4a">head of state</a> and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation, as well as the last Prime Minister to make <a href="/facts/Aliyah/jEbdJ56U">aliyah</a> rather than being born on territory that would become Israel.
From a young age, he was renowned for his oratorical brilliance, and was chosen as a <a href="/facts/Prot%25C3%25A9g%25C3%25A9/tWJJD2GV">protégé</a> by <a href="/facts/David_Ben-Gurion/QVytuG6W">David Ben-Gurion</a>, Israel's founding father. He began his political career in the late 1940s, holding several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after the <a href="/facts/1948_Arab%25E2%2580%2593Israeli_War/X3GSudUm">1948 Arab–Israeli War</a>. His first high-level government position was as deputy director general of defense in 1952 which he attained at the age of 28, and <a href="/facts/Director_General_of_the_Israeli_Ministry_of_Defense/ngCFFGLR">director general</a> from 1953 until 1959. In 1956, he took part in the historic negotiations on the <a href="/facts/Protocol_of_S%25C3%25A8vres/QmIkP3s0">Protocol of Sèvres</a>, which was described by British Prime Minister <a href="/facts/Anthony_Eden/YqAcXtlG">Anthony Eden</a> as the "highest form of statesmanship". In 1963, he held negotiations with U.S. President <a href="/facts/John_F._Kennedy/1cdDaswg">John F. Kennedy</a>, which resulted in the sale of <a href="/facts/MIM-23_Hawk/cj0GQSYS">Hawk anti-aircraft missiles</a> to Israel, the first sale of U.S. military equipment to Israel. Peres represented <a href="/facts/Mapai/KC7HU7xY">Mapai</a>, <a href="/facts/Rafi_(political_party)/m4lIbFCc">Rafi</a>, the <a href="/facts/Alignment_(Israel)/wanf3eGP">Alignment</a>, <a href="/facts/Labor_Party_(Israel)/IPRaxRwR">Labor</a> and <a href="/facts/Kadima/joj7eyVz">Kadima</a> in the Knesset, and led Alignment and Labor.
Peres first succeeded <a href="/facts/Yitzhak_Rabin/Wvd6myha">Yitzhak Rabin</a> as <a href="/facts/Acting_prime_minister/VofzIXqQ">acting prime minister</a> briefly during 1977, before becoming prime minister from 1984 to 1986. As <a href="/facts/Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs_(Israel)/JoJPDt9d">foreign minister</a> under Prime Minister Rabin, Peres engineered the 1994 <a href="/facts/Israel%25E2%2580%2593Jordan_peace_treaty/GT3LPRgv">Israel–Jordan peace treaty</a>, and won the 1994 <a href="/facts/Nobel_Peace_Prize/2wVhmLrX">Nobel Peace Prize</a> together with Rabin and <a href="/facts/Yasser_Arafat/r2DjotE5">Yasser Arafat</a> for the <a href="/facts/Oslo_Accords/UfAI7Luo">Oslo Accords</a> peace talks with the <a href="/facts/Palestine_Liberation_Organization/9Kk16qMp">Palestinian leadership</a>. In 1996, he founded the <a href="/facts/Peres_Center_for_Peace/bry8apVM">Peres Center for Peace</a>, 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." After suffering a stroke, Peres died in 2016 near <a href="/facts/Tel_Aviv/cQ8X3WVd">Tel Aviv</a>.

Shimon Peres open-in-new

Shimon Peres