Shimon Peres

Israeli politician Born: August 2, 1923; Died: September 28, 2016 SHIMON Peres, who has died aged 93, served as both prime minister and president of Israel and was a key figure in the Oslo Accords, the attempt in the 1990s to negotiate peace between the country and the Palestinian Authority. He was one of the primary figures from the period when Israel gained and forged her independence, having served in the Haganah and been a protégé of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister

At first sight, Peres’s political record was patchy; though he held the record as the longest-serving member of the Knesset ever (he was first elected in 1959; he left on becoming president in 2007), he had a knack of losing elections. He failed in several party leadership bids – and went through five parties – and lost in five attempts to become prime minister. When, in 1984, he finally won the role (which he had previously held in an acting capacity), he was unable to form a coalition, and had to share power with Yitzhak Shamir; the two agreed to swap jobs as foreign minister and prime minister after two years.

But he also had considerable successes. He was the defence minister at the time of the celebrated raid on Entebbe, which rescued hostages from a hijacked aircraft and demonstrated the effectiveness of the Israeli army. His work to bring about the Oslo talks brought him the Nobel Peace Prize (jointly, with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat).

Even before Peres joined the Knesset, Ben-Gurion had appointed him director-general of the Ministry of Defence, and sent him to negotiate with the British and French governments during the Suez Crisis. Initially seen as something of a hard-liner, Peres was an early defender of the settlements on the West Bank and a staunch opponent of dialogue with the PLO.

But in his periods as defence minister, foreign minister, prime minister and president, Peres proved a more conciliatory figure than many had expected. Despite his military past and role as a prime mover in establishing Israel’s nuclear reactor in the late 1950s and 1960s, as president he was staunch advocate of more economic co-operation among the countries of the region.

By the end of his life, he had become one of the last survivors of Israel’s early days as a nation, and was seen as a national figurehead who had moved beyond partisan politics.

Szymon Perski was born on August 2, 1923, at Wiszniew, then in Poland and now part of Belarus. He was the son of Yitzhak, a prosperous timber merchant, and his wife Sara, a librarian; the Hollywood actress Lauren Bacall (born Betty Persky) was his first cousin. Though his parents were not especially religious, he grew up speaking Hebrew and Yiddish as well as Polish (he later added English and French) and had religious instruction from his grandfather, who was a rabbi.

In 1932, Yitzhak Peres emigrated to what was then British Mandate Palestine, settling in Tel Aviv, and two years later his wife and two sons followed. Shimon went to secondary school there and spent some time in agricultural college, while living and working in a kibbutz, during his teenage years. All his relatives who had remained in Poland were murdered during the Holocaust.

During the war years, Peres became involved in the Youth Zionist Movement and was active within Mapai, Ben-Gurion’s centre-left party. In 1944 he led an (illegal) expedition to map out potential territory for the Jewish state into a Bedouin area which is now part of southern Israel. He was arrested by a British officer and spent two weeks in jail. He then joined the Haganah, the military forces which foreshadowed the Israel army, where he was put in charge of arms and procurement.

In his 20s, he became deputy, then quickly director-general, of the defence ministry, in which capacity he dealt with the Suez crisis and led a delegation to New York. While there he studied philosophy and economics at the New School and New York University, and took a business management degree from Harvard.

He promptly became defence minister after joining the Knesset in 1959, a role he performed until 1965. Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan and Peres left Mapai in the late 1960s to set up Rafi, a competing leftof-centre party, after changes were proposed to the voting system. In the event, Rafi won few seats, but it was enough for them to join the Left Alignment.

Peres challenged Yitzhal Rabin, who as prime minister had made him information secretary, and then defence minister again, for its leadership several times, but got the role only when Rabin stepped down in 1977 after a scandal. Even then, Peres was only acting prime minister, since Rabin could not resign from the government.

He then, unexpectedly, lost the 1977 election, and Likud’s Menachem Begin formed a government that excluded the Left. Peres lost again in 1981, then in 1984 won, but could not form a working majority. He agreed to a power-sharing deal with Yitzhak Shamir and, after two years as prime minister, became foreign minister in 1986. Two years later, after losing another general election, he found himself again in a unity government, this time as finance minister.

From 1990, he was back in opposition, first as leader, though he was displaced by Rabin after two years. Foreign minister again, he embarked on a programme of secret talks with the PLO which eventu- ally resulted in the Oslo Accord and the Nobel Prize. Though it hardly settled the question of Palestine, it is still widely regarded as the most significant foundation for working towards peace in the region.

After Rabin was assassinated in 1995, Peres served as acting prime minister, although he was defeated by Benjamin Netenyahu in the following year’s contest for the premiership. Ehud Barak then replaced him as Labour leader, and Peres set his sights on the 2000 presidential elections, which he was expected to win easily. But he lost to Moshe Katsav, and the following year was back, yet again, as foreign minister in Ariel Sharon’s coalition government. In 2005, with Sharon, he left to set up a new party, Kadima. When they came to power, he became vice-premier.

In 2007, he was finally elected president, serving a seven-year term. By this stage he had come to be seen as a figurehead who largely stood above party politics, although he carried on making interventions even after his term ended, criticising Netanyahu and urging caution when dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He received an honorary knighthood from the Queen in 2008.

Peres had a stroke on September 13 and, despite initial improvements, later slipped into a coma. His death was announced yesterday.

US President Barack Obama hailed Peres as a leader whose commitment to Israel’s security and the pursuit of peace was rooted in his own unshakeable moral foundation and unflagging optimism. Mr Obama said Peres looked to the future guided by a vision of the human dignity and progress that he knew people of goodwill could advance together. He called him the essence of Israel itself, noting that Peres had fought for the nation’s independence, worked its land and served in virtually every government position.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who served as Middle East peace envoy, described Peres as a political giant.

“He was an inspiration, a mentor and a friend,” said Blair. “His intellect, his way with words that was eloquent beyond description, his command of the world and how it was changing were extraordinary. Though he grew older, his spirit never did. Above all, his commitment to peace and his belief that it was in the interests of the country he adored marked him out as a visionary whose vision was never dimmed or displaced. He saw every setback as a spur to further action and every moment ofhopeasasignofwhatcouldbedone.”

Shimon Peres married, in 1945, Sonya Gelman, who died in 2011. They had a daughter and two sons. Telephone 0141-302 6000 or by e-mail at announcements@heraldandtimes.co.uk