Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres the ninth president of Israel is a renowned public figure and politician. He was elected in the year 2007 by the parliament of Israel known as Knesset. Being a politician, he has held several political positions in course of his political career which has been developed for a period of not less than fifty years. He was the eighth as well as the twelfth Prime Minister and has also been the leader of the leftist Labor Party. In addition, he was once a Deputy Prime Minister and has held other several positions in nine different cabinets. He has represented a total of five political parties in the Israel parliament which are inclusive of Kadima, Mapai, Rafi, Labor and Alignment. His contribution to the society has gained considerable recognition especially the peace talks that he conducted when he was the Foreign Minister. As a result, Shimpom and other instrumental people like Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin were able to win a Nobel Prize in the year 1994. The first former Prime minister to be elected as a president has a great vision especially for an integrated Middle East. Bent on that, this paper is a biography report of Shimon Peres.
Background Information
Peres was born in 1923 in Wieniawa, Poland, currently know as Belarus but latter had to migrate to Palestine together with his family where he grew up and schooled (Bar-Zohar pp. 97). Although now he speaks even English and French, he was initially able to communicate in Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian since they were the languages that his family was speaking. However, he latter learnt Polish at school and currently he can communicate in not less than five languages. His father was a lumber merchant and his mother a librarian. Despite the fact that he had parents, he grew up in his grand father’s homestead who had a great impact in his life since he also educated him. He has no living relatives in his motherland since all of them were killed during the holocaust and others were even burnt alive like his grandfather (Shimon Peres, 2009 ).
Shimon Peres married his wife Sonya back in the year 1945 and together they had three children two sons Hemi and Yoni and one daughter. His only daughter Zvia Valdan is a professor at a teachers training college and also a linguistic. He was educated in Balfour Elementary School and High School and also in Geula Gymnasium which was a high school for commerce. Latter, he attended Ben Shemen Agricultural School. He worked as a dairy farmer, Kibbutz secretary which he was a founder and also as a shepherd. He ascribed to a form of very Conservative Judaism religion known as Heredi although his parents were Orthodox Jews.
In the year 1947, Peres joined Israel Defense forces and was responsible for personnel and arms purchases after which he was appointed as the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Defense. Apart from purchasing arms, he was responsible for establishing strategic alliances which were very significant in the country of Israel. He played a great role in establishing close relations with a country like France and thereby creating the possibility of acquiring more arms eventually making Israel to be a powerful nation. His contribution in the military cannot go unnoticed especially because he helped Israel acquire a French Jet fighter among many other achievements (The America-Israel Cooperative Enterprise Para 12).
Peres Political Career
Peres has spent the best part of his life in politics and therefore his life has been characterized greatly by political achievements. Although his political career may have had a long history, he was first elected in to the Parliament in the year 1959 as a member of the Mapai Party. He acted as a Deputy Defense Minister until 1965 after which he left Mapai to form a new party known as Rafi and latter the two parties reconciled to form Alignment Party in the year 1968. Peres was appointed as a minister of Immigrant and Absorption in the year 1969 and a year latter, he became the minister of Transport and Communications. In 1974 after being a minister of Transport and Communications for four years, he was appointed as a minister of defense in the government of Rabin who was his rival in party elections. Although he was not able to defeat Rabin, he was able to take the post of the party leader in the year 1977 after Rabin stepped down due to a scandal which involved his wife. He therefore became an acting Prime Minister since it was not possible for Rabin to resign officially. However, although Peres was successful in politics he led the Alignment in to its first defeat after which he became the leader of the opposition government. In 1984, he became a Prime Minister again after his party failed to acquire the sixty one mandatory seats required to form the left wing coalition. Peres served as a Prime Minister while his rival served as the Foreign Minister. They later exchanged places and in the year 1986, Peres became the Prime Minister. He latter served as Vice Premier and Minister of Finance in the National Unity Government from the year 1988 to 1990, after which he left government for a moment. He was in opposition for a period of two years until 1992 when he was defeated by Rabin. Nonetheless, he did not resign from politics but continued acting as Rabin’s Foreign minister (The America-Israel Cooperative Enterprise Para 8).
In the year 1995, Rabin was assassinated and Peres became the Prime minister and contributed greatly because he introduced internet in Israel. He established the first website of an Israel Prime Minister. Nevertheless, he was defeated in the Prime Minister’s elections which were held in the year 1996. In the year 2000, he ran for the first time for the presidency although he was defeated by Likud. However, in the year 2001, he was actively involved in the government of Likud since he was holding the position of a Foreign Minister and despite the criticism he was facing, he did not quit, until in the year 2003 when Labor party resigned before the 2003 elections. In the year 2005, Peres was able to become the leader of the Labor Party just before the 2006 elections. He was therefore able to delay the elections contrary to the wish of the majority but even by so doing, he lost narrowly to Peretz in the elections which were conducted in the year 2006. In 2005, he was able to be elected as Vice Prime Minister and the mister for the development of Neveg especially due to his support to Kadima Party.
His political career reached a climax in the year 2007 13th June when he was elected as a president of the state of Israel by the Knesset. He was a member of the Israel parliament since the year 1959 and resigned the same day he was elected as a president. He became one of the longest serving members as he had served since 1953 save the three months break when he had resigned in the year 2006 (The America-Israel Cooperative Enterprise Para 10).
The Political Personality of Shimon Peres
Peres has contributed greatly to defining the state of Israel which is still very young since he has been speaking on its behalf especially concerning foreign issues. He has two major accomplishments which greatly contradict his personality politically which include Israel’s nuclear program and the Oslo Accords. He cannot be termed as an extremist since he was never too aggressive in politics. Some of his critics refer to him as an eternal loser politically since he has never won any political election until the time he was chosen to be a president. He used to .lose election to even politicians who were not popular. Although initially he was referred to as a hawk, he later came to be referred to as a dove especially due to his support for peace through economic cooperation. For instance, he believes that the only way to respond to Iran’s nuclear program is to collaborate as nations and impose painful economic sanction to the country (Shimon Peres Para 5).
Despite being criticized in his own country, he has always acted as Israel’s spokesman even when he has been in opposition since he has greatly gained international respect and recognition. Although he puts it clearly that he is not for a military attack towards Iran, he threatens that any action can be taken (Bar-ZoharPP. 100).
Conclusion
As much as he has been criticized, Peres is indeed one politician who is not easily moved by the views of majority. He seems not to be an extremist but knows very well when to act and achieve his mission and vision. Although he never won many elections, he continued in politics despite the defeats. He is a key figure who cannot be overlooked in the history of Israel since he has been very instrumental. He can be termed as an all round political leader especially due to the fact that he has held majority of the most senior positions in the government. Although his background does not speak much about him, his grandfather had great impact in his life especially because he taught him Talmud which may have had a great impact in his political life. In addition, his Judaism faith may have been the main reason why he always campaigns for peace. Despite other peoples opinion, Shimon Peres he is a great leader and also a politician.
Works Cited
Bar-Zohar, Michael. Shimon Peres: The Biography. London: Random House Publishing Group, 2007. Print.
Shimon Peres. 2009. Web. 15 September 2010.
The America-Israel Cooperative Enterprise. Shimon Peres . 2010. Web. 15 September 2010.
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