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Peres, Shimon (1923 -)
Israel's eighth Prime Minister,
I . His Life
Born in Belorussia, Shimon Peres (originally Persky) settled in Eretz Yisrael
with his parents in 1934. He studied at the Ben Shemen Agricultural School
and was a founder of Kibbutz Alumot in the Jordan Valley. He was elected
secretary of the labor-oriented youth movement HaNoar Ha'Oved in 1943.
A protege of David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister, Peres
entered government service in the Ministry of Defense in 1948. During
the War of Independence he was responsible for arms purchases and recruitment;
in 1948 he became head of the Israel Navy; in 1953 was appointed Director-General
of the Ministry of Defense, a position he held until 1959.
Elected to the Knesset in 1959, Peres was deputy Minister of Defense,
1959-1965. In 1969 he joined the government as a Minister without Portfolio
and was responsible for economic development in the administered territories
after the Six Day War. He then became Minister of Immigrant Absorption
and later, Minister of Transport and Communications, a position he held
1970-1974. In 1974, Peres became Minister of Information and later, Minister
of Defense (1974-1977) in the first government headed by Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin.
When Rabin resigned from the government in 1977, Peres became head of
the Labor Party. In 1984, a national unity government was formed after
the results of the general election were indecisive. He shared the office
of Prime Minister in rotation with the Likud bloc's Yitzhak Shamir: first,
Peres was Prime Minister and Shamir was Foreign Minister, then they changed
positions. Peres subsequently became Finance Minister in a Likud-led government,
but left office in 1990 when the coalition collapsed because of differences
over peace talks with the Palestinians.
In 1992, Peres was defeated by Rabin in the struggle for the chairmanship
of the Labor party. Labor won the general election that year and Peres
became Rabin's Foreign Minister. When Rabin was assassinated in 1995,
Peres formed a new government, which he served as both Prime Minister
and Minister of Defense. In the general elections the following year,
Peres was defeated by Shamir's Likud successor, Binyamin Netanyahu. In
1997, former IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak took over the helm of the Labor
party from Shimon Peres.
II . His Accomplishments
As a protege of David Ben Gurion, Shimon Peres originally entered the Knesset
with the Mapai party, eventually switching with Ben Gurion to the independent
Rafi list.
During his tenure at the Defense Ministry in the 1950s and 1960s, he
was instrumental in planning the Sinai Campaign (1956); he reorganized
the ministry, strengthened relations with France and was also instrumental
in the establishment of Israel Aircraft Industries as well as the Dimona
project leading to Israel's nuclear capability.
In 1967, Peres initiated the negotiations which led to the formation
of the Israel Labor Party and became its deputy secretary-general.
As Minister of Defense in the mid-1970s, he signed the Interim Agreement
with Egypt in 1975, had ministerial responsibility for the Entebbe rescue
operation (1976) and opened the Good Fence on Israel's northern border
with Lebanon.
During his term as Prime Minister (1984-1986), Israel withdrew from
Lebanon. As Foreign Minister in the second government headed by Yitzhak
Rabin, Peres helped negotiate the autonomy agreement between the PLO and
Israel in September 1993. In recognition of his efforts, Peres, Rabin
and Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize.
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