Shimon Peres: Israeli ‘outsider’ who won the Nobel prize for Oslo accords
1923 - 2016
SHIMON Peres, one of Israel’s leading statesmen, who has died at the age of 93, had a long political career, in the course of which he served twice as prime minister and as the nation’s ninth president.
Regarded as the architect of the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians, Peres was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1994.
He brought fresh ideas to every office he held. But in Israel, where particularly in the ’70s military generals were seen as gods and Israelis liked their leaders rough-cut and earthy, Peres — who had a heavy accent and no military experience — was often regarded as an outsider.
He never won general elections and his premierships were not the result of outright victory but rather political circumstances.
“Nobody likes me,” Peres once complained. “Even my good actions and positive qualities are distorted.”
Shimon Peres was born Shimon Perski at Vishneva, Poland, on August 2 1923. When Peres was 10, the family emigrated to Palestine, then under British Mandate, and settled in Tel Aviv.
In 1941 Peres was elected secretary of Ha’noar Ha’oved, the youth wing of the Labour Party, where he proved a superb organiser.
In 1953 Ben Gurion appointed Peres directorgeneral of the Ministry of Defence; at 30, Peres was the youngest person to hold this key position. In 1959 he was appointed deputy defence minister, a post which he kept until 1965.
In October 1973, Egyptian and Syrian troops invaded Israel, catching Israel off guard. In the aftermath prime minister Golda Meir resigned and was replaced by Yitzhak Rabin; Peres became defence minister. It was a job he had always wanted.
His real moment as defence minister came on June 27 1976, when an Air France plane en route from Tel Aviv to Paris with 248 passengers on board was hijacked by Palestinians and diverted to Entebbe, Uganda.
On July 3 Israeli commandos landed in Entebbe, freed the hostages and brought them to Israel. — ©