Shimon Peres was born on August 2, 1923 in Wiszniew, Poland (now Belarus) and immigrated to Palestine with his family at the age of eleven.
He started his political career at an early age - being appointed Director-General of the Ministry of Defense at the age of 29. From 1959 to 1965 he then served as Deputy Minister of Defense.
Shimon Peres served two non-consecutive terms as Prime Minister. His first tenure was from 1984 to 1986 in the National Unity government. From 1986 to 1988, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and from November 1988 until the dissolution of the National Unity Government in 1990 - as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He succeeded in enlisting the support of the Histadrut for the difficult steps needed to reduce the annual inflation rate from 400% to 16%. Peres was also instrumental in the withdrawal of troops from Lebanon and the establishment of a narrow security zone in southern Lebanon.
In 1992, Shimon Peres was once again appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. He initiated and conducted the negotiations that led to the signing of the Declaration of Principles with the PLO in September 1993 - which won him the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, together with Rabin and Arafat. Further negotiations with the Palestinians brought about Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and some areas of Judea and Samaria. In October 1994, the Treaty of Peace with Jordan was signed.
Shimon Peres' second term as Prime Minister came in the wake of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995. Peres served as Prime Minister for seven months until the general elections. During this trying period, Peres strove to maintain the momentum in the peace process, despite a wave of terrorist attacks by Palestinian suicide bombers against Israeli civilians.
In October 1997 Shimon Peres created the the Peres Center for Peace with the aim of advancing Arab-Israeli joint ventures.
Shimon Peres was elected by the Knesset on June 13, 2007 to serve as the Ninth President of Israel, and retired from his role in July 24, 2014. He dedicated his last years to advancing peace and coexistence as President of the Peres Center for Peace:
“All my life I have worked to ensure that Israel’s future is based on science and technology as well as on an unwavering moral commitment,” Peres said when he laid the cornerstone of the Israeli Innovation Center in July. “They called me a dreamer. But today, when I look at Israel, we all can see clearly that the greater the dream, the more spectacular the results.”
Shimon Peres passed away on September 28, 2016.
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