Peres, Shimon, << PEH rehs, shih MOHN >> (1923-2016), was president of Israel from 2007 to 2014. He also served as prime minister twice. He first held that office from 1984 to 1986. He became prime minister again in 1995 following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu replaced him as prime minister.
In the early and mid-1990’s, both as foreign minister under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and as prime minister himself, Peres played a major role in a move for peace between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Peres, Rabin, and PLO leader Yasir Arafat shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for their Middle East peace efforts.
Peres served as prime minister in the unity government created by the Labor Party and the Likud bloc in September 1984. The parties formed the government after no party won a majority in the parliamentary elections. The unity government lasted for 50 months. Under the agreement between Labor and Likud, Peres—head of the Labor Party—served as prime minister for 25 months. Yitzhak Shamir, head of Likud, was vice prime minister and foreign minister. Under the agreement, the roles of Peres and Shamir were reversed after 25 months—in October 1986. As prime minister, Peres pledged to withdraw Israeli troops that occupied Lebanon. The troops had invaded Lebanon in 1982. In 1985, the Israeli forces withdrew from all of Lebanon except a Security Zone along the Israeli border.
In 1988, Labor and Likud formed a new coalition government with Shamir as prime minister. Peres remained as vice prime minister and also became finance minister. In 1990, the coalition collapsed, and Peres resigned from his posts as vice prime minister and finance minister. Likud and small parties formed a new coalition government in June with Shamir as prime minister. Peres had become head of the Labor Party in 1977. In 1992, he lost that post in a party election. He again served as Labor Party leader from 1995 to 1997 and from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, Peres was deputy prime minister in a coalition government headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Likud.
Peres was born on Aug. 16, 1923, in Vishnevo, a small town near Minsk, that was then part of Poland and is now part of Belarus. His family name was Persky. He changed the name to Peres in the 1940’s. Peres moved with his family to Palestine in 1934. He later became active in the movement that resulted in the creation of the nation of Israel in Palestine in 1948. In 1950, Peres was sent to the United States as leader of a defense ministry delegation. While there, he studied at New York University and Harvard University. He returned to Israel in 1952.
Peres was first elected to the Israeli Knesset (parliament) in 1959. He helped form the Labor Party in 1968. He was minister of defense from 1974 to 1977. He served as foreign minister in 1987 and 1988, from 1992 to 1995, and in 2001 and 2002. He joined the party Kadima in 2005. Peres died on Sept. 28, 2016.
