By Baron Henri Estramant.
Wednesday, 28 September 2016, State of Israel: Shimon Peres (Hebrew: שמעון פרס) formerly 9th president and thrice prime minister of Israel; a celebrated Nobel prize-winning visionary who pushed his country towards peace with the Arab neighbours, passed away early morning near Tel Aviv. He was 93 years old. Peres is survived by three children.
In July 2014, he was the world’s oldest head of state when he stepped down from the presidential office at the age of 90 years old.
Born as Szymon Perski on 2 August 1923 in Vishneva, then Poland (today Belarus), to a well-off merchant family; Shimon Peres and and his nuclear family moved to Palestine in 1934. Quickly rising through the échelons of power of Israel’s Labour Party, he became a top aide to Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel.
Peres shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in reaching an interim peace agreement with the Palestinians, claiming symbolically the prize alongside late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Peres was one of Israel’s most admired leaders. He first became a member of the Knesset in 1959. Subsequently he held virtually every senior political office in Israel over his seven-decade standing career, including three ephemeral terms as prime minister as well as stints as foreign minister, minister of finance, defence and transport.
For further information:
Knesset’s profile on Shimon Peres: https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=104
