A hawk disguised as a dove
Shimon Peres was notorious for the Qana massacre of 1996, led the secret Israeli nuclear programme and was key to wars
JERUSALEM // The death of Shimon Peres, former Israeli president and prime minister, was greeted with a stony silence from Arab leaders yesterday amid an outpouring of tributes from western politicians.
Peres, who died on Wednesday aged 93, won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for his role in negotiating the Oslo accords.
Although revered in Israel and praised as a statesman, Peres was a deeply controversial figure.
His role in a now defunct peace process has been called into question, but he is most reviled for his hawkish early years, when he was a leading military figure in the formation of the Israeli state on Palestinian land.
Peres was key to the wars that followed against Arab countries and led the development of Israel’s secret nuclear programme, cementing the state’s military dominance in the region.
In 1996, as prime minister, he oversaw a war in Lebanon in which more than 100 civilians were killed in an Israeli artillery strike on the village of Qana.
Perhaps most detrimental to the peace process was that he allowed settlement construction to continue on illegally occupied Palestinian land during his years in leadership positions.
The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas hailed Peres as a brave partner for peace and sent his family condolences. But his comments seemed out of step with other Palestinian politicians and ordinary people.
Even those who credited him with negotiating with the PLO said he failed to leave behind a peace legacy.
“He wasn’t serious about Palestinian statehood,” said Abdallah Abdallah, chairman of the politics committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a supporter of Mr Abbas.
“He didn’t work to implement the courageous step he took of negotiating peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
“Unfortunately, after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, when he became prime minister, he didn’t contribute one iota to peace at all. We only remember him as a partner in the foundation of Israel, which was a catastrophe for the Palestinians.”
Conscious of the international tributes to Peres, some Palestinian leaders were cautious in their criticisms. Veteran Palestinian politician Qais Abdulkareem declined to answer when asked whether Peres deserved his Nobel prize but said Peres had not been serious in supporting Palestinian statehood.
“If he was, he could have included this in the Oslo agreement. But he and Rabin were not serious or explicit about Palestinian independence and insisted on an interim period of five years in which the Palestinians have limited self government and to leave future negotiations open to all alternatives.”
On the streets of Ramallah, opinions were far more severe.
Hossam Qiblaoui, a 52- yearold trader, called Peres a criminal and a butcher, while Tamer Daraghmeh, 47, accused Peres of being complicit in many massacres. “He made many widows and orphaned children,” Mr Daraghmeh said.
In Israel, Peres was seen as the elder statesman of Israeli politics.
He suffered a stroke on September 13 and had remained in hospital since. His son, Chemi, announced his death outside the hospital yesterday morning. “Our father’s legacy has always been to look to tomorrow,” he said.
US president Barack Obama described Peres as a man who represented the essence of Israel.
In a seven-decade political career, Peres filled nearly every position in Israeli public life. Born on August 2, 1923, in Vishneva, then part of Poland, at the age of 11 he moved to pre- state Palestine in 1934 with his family. As a young man, Peres joined the Haganah, a militia that was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian villages in 1947-49.
Rising quickly through labour party ranks, he became a top aide and protege to Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion.
Peres led the defence ministry in his 20s and led the development of Israel’s secret nuclear programme, which remains outside of international supervision. Peres held every major cabinet post – including defence, finance and foreign affairs – and served three brief stints as prime minister.
Yet, for much of his political career he struggled to match his international prestige with success in Israeli politics, where he was branded by many as both a utopian dreamer and political schemer. He suffered a string of electoral defeats. Competing in five general elections seeking the prime minister’s spot, he lost four and tied one.
He finally secured public adoration when he was chosen by parliament to a seven-year term as Israel’s ceremonial president in 2007, taking the role of elder statesman.
Peres was celebrated by doves and vilified by hawks for advocating Israeli compromises for peace even before he negotiated the first interim accord with the Palestinians in 1993.