Former Israeli president and elder statesman Shimon Peres, a joint winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize and an influential figure in Israeli politics for 70 years, died in a hospital yesterday, aged 93, two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.
A campaigner for Middle East peace who remained energetic until his final days, Peres was mourned by world leaders and praised for his tireless engagement.
“A light has gone out,” US President Barack Obama said.
Photo: Reuters
“There are few people who we share this world with who change the course of human history, not just through their role in human events, but because they expand our moral imagination and force us to expect more of ourselves,” Obama said in a statement. “My friend Shimon was one of those people.”
Despite decades of rivalry with Peres, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-winger who defeated the then-Labor Party leader in a 1996 election, praised him as a stalwart of the center-left and a visionary.
“There were many things we agreed upon, and the number grew as the years passed, but we had disagreements, a natural part of democratic life,” Netanyahu said after holding a minute’s silence at a specially convened Cabinet meeting.
“Shimon won international recognition that spanned the globe. World leaders wanted to be in his proximity and respected him. Along with us, many of them will accompany him on his last journey to eternal rest in the soil of Jerusalem,” he said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement saying he had sent a condolence letter to the family expressing his “sadness and regret” and praising Peres’ “intensive efforts to reach out for a lasting peace ... until the last days.”
It was not clear if he would attend Peres’ funeral, which is to take place today at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery, in a section dedicated to “Great Leaders of the Nation.”
In the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the enclave’s Hamas rulers, said: “The Palestinian people are happy over the departure of this criminal, who was involved in many crimes and in the bloodshed of the Palestinian people.”
Obama, Britain’s Prince Charles and former US president Bill Clinton are among those expected to attend, Israeli radio reported, although Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not immediately confirm the attendance list.
French President Francois Hollande also confirmed he would attend, alongside his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.
The announcement of the death was made at Tel Hashomer Hospital by Peres’ son, Chemi, and son-in-law, Rafi Walden.
“His life ended abruptly when he was still working on his great passion, strengthening the country and striving for peace. His legacy will remain with us all,” said Walden, who was also Peres’ personal physician.
Polish-born Peres, whose family moved to then British-ruled Palestine in the 1930s, was part of almost every major political development in Israel since its founding in 1948. He served in a dozen Cabinets and was twice prime minister, though he never won a general election, struggling to connect with ordinary voters.
He was first elected to Israel’s parliament in 1959 and, barring a brief interlude in early 2006, held his seat for 48 years, until he became president in 2007.
In every role he undertook — from forging Israel’s defense strategy in the 1950s to running his eponymous peace foundation — Peres was known for his energy and enthusiasm, even recording jokey YouTube videos into his 90s.
“Optimists and pessimists die the same way,” he said. “They just live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist.”
He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with the former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for reaching an interim peace deal in 1993, the Oslo Accords, which never turned into a lasting treaty.
Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli ultranationalist who opposed the interim accords, and it was Peres who took over as prime minister after Rabin’s death.
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