Shimon Peres
From AICbackground
President of Israel
"Inherent in this era are many opportunities and great dangers, and it presents us with a historic challenge, a challenge that requires us to shake ourselves out of the rut in our thinking and the routine of our actions."
"Israel has won five wars against the Arabs militarily, but not politically. . . wars lead nowhere. . . We are condemned to live in peace, we have to make this endeavor a success. Many of us feel that if we can solve the Palestinian dispute, all disputes in the world are soluble."
"We are offering the Palestinians a far-reaching gesture: self-government that includes police, responsibility over health, the postal service, commerce, agriculture. . . everything."
You were born in August 1923 in Poland and immigrated with your family to Palestine in 1934. Educated at Harvard University, you have served your country in both civilian and military capacities, receiving the Legion of Honor Medal in 1959. You have been a member of the Knesset since 1959 and have served as Minister of Defense, Economic Minister for the Administered Areas and Immigrant Absorption, Transportation and Communication, Information and Interior and Religious affairs. You served as Chair of the Labor Party from 1977-92, as Prime Minister from 1984-86 and as Foreign Minister from 1986-88 and again from 1992-1995. You succeeded Yitzhak Rabin as Prime Minister after his assassination on November 4, 1995. You were defeated in your bid for reelection by Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996.
Your main line of reasoning has been that only a two-state solution with Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace is the solution to Israel’s conflict in the Middle East. Since the Oslo Accords you have been a strong advocate for peace and negotiation. It is this ideology that earned you a Nobel Peace Prize with the late Yitzhak Rabin (1995) and the late Yasir Arafat (2004). It is in this time that you came to realize that you believed that the key to peace was a symbiotic economic relationship between Israel and a future Palestine. You have been a strong advocate of a mutually beneficial and cooperative economic relationship with the Palestinian authority. Supporting the birth of economic zones of cooperation in the territories, you have stated that Palestinians will come to recognize Israel when they have a higher standard of living and better quality of life.
In 1999, Ehud Barak became Prime Minister and your Labor Party took over the reins of government. In the new government, you served as Minister of Regional Cooperation. Following the breakdown of peace talks in which you were a senior member, Barak would lose the elections to a long time friend of yours: Ariel Sharon of the Likud Party. The explosion of the Intifada brought the Labor and Likud parties together for the second time in Israel’s history in a unity government. You received the second most important position in government, serving as Foreign Minister in 2002-2003. In your new role as Foreign Minister, you spent much time in European capitals and in Washington advocating peace and defending Israel’s use of force in the territories.
In 2003, following the dissolution of the unity government, you once again took over the Labor Party leadership, and in late 2004 you conducted negotiations to once again join a unity government with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. You were a strong supporter of Sharon’s plan to disengage unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and Northern West Bank, evacuating Jewish settlements in the process. You had also been a strong defender of the separation fence currently being constructed along the 1967 Green line border, with notable protrusions into the West Bank.
In 2005, you decided to leave the Labor Party to join the Kadima Party and support Ariel Sharon. As you had recently been supporting many of his policies, this seemed to be the correct transition for you. Of course, it was also somewhat opportunistic, as Kadima was in the ascendence while Labor's fortunes were looking less rosy. When Sharon had a serious stroke, there was some talk about you taking over as leader of Kadima, but many of the parties members were former Likud members and this led them to support the more conservative Ehud Olmert to become Prime Minister instead. You decided to follow other party members and supported Olmert as well. After Kadima’s win in the 2006 legislative election for the 17th Knesset, you became Vice Prime Minister. In 2007, you were nominated by Kadima to run in the presidential election and won the election, becoming President of Israel.
In 2008, Olmert resigned as Prime Minister and you asked Tzipi Livni to be responsible for forming a new government. Tzipi Livni led the Kadima Party into the 2009 elections and Kadima won the most seats of any party. However, you chose Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form the new government. Typically, the leader of the party with the most legislators is chosen to form the new government, but you broke tradition and chose a Likud leader instead, recognizing the Likud had a much better shot at swaying more of the remaining parties to join with them. In the end, Mr. Netanyahu not only formed a government, but was able to entice a weakened Labor Party to join with him. Despite his efforts, he was not, however, able to convince Kadima to join in a broad coalition. It was evident that you had faith in Netanyahu and his leadership ability, as you went against the norm in choosing him to form the government. In 2008-09, you once again became the object of controversy, as rumors swirled about a secret meeting between yourself and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Abdullah, wishing to return to the good graces of the Americans in the wake of 9-11 and the heavy involvement therein of Saudi nationals, wanted to be seen as a leader in the Arab peace camp while still retaining his distance from formal engagement with Israel. It is apparent that you will continue to be a significant figure in regional geopolitics despite your inhabiting what is largely a ceremonial position.
