NEW DELHI : Szymon Persk , who was born in Poland on August 2, 1923 and later Hebraised his name as Shimon Peres, was the leader of the pre-state Israeli leadership. After a brief illness following a stroke a couple weeks ago, he passed away in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
After immigrating to the then Mandate Palestine at the age of 11, he was part of social Zionism led by David Ben-Gurion and soon emerged as his trusted confidant and lieutenant. In 1959, Peres entered the Knesset for the first time and remained its member until 2006, when he was elected president.
In the 1990s, Peres was the senior-most Israeli figure to recognise the need for a political settlement with the Palestinians after the end of the Cold War and the Kuwait crisis. He negotiated a settlement with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that culminated in the historic Clinton-Rabin-Arafat handshake on the White House lawns on September 13, 1993. For his contribution, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat in 1994. Peres played a critical role in minimising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tense relations with US President Barack Obama over the Iranian nuclear deal.
As premier, Peres briefly met Rajiv Gandhi on the sidelines of the UN session in September 1985 and this was one the first contacts between the leaders of both countries. This exchange culminated in the normalisation of ties in January 1992. Shortly after, Peres visited India as foreign minister. His last visit was in November 2014, shortly after he relinquished the presidency. Not visiting India as president was one his unfulfilled dreams.
{{/usCountry}}As premier, Peres briefly met Rajiv Gandhi on the sidelines of the UN session in September 1985 and this was one the first contacts between the leaders of both countries. This exchange culminated in the normalisation of ties in January 1992. Shortly after, Peres visited India as foreign minister. His last visit was in November 2014, shortly after he relinquished the presidency. Not visiting India as president was one his unfulfilled dreams.
{{/usCountry}}From someone who built Israel’s strategic deterrence, Peres transformed into a committed peace activist through the Oslo process. He was not only the last Israeli leader of the pre-state era but also a towering and committed peace activist in the region. With both leadership and foresight becoming a rare phenomenon in a region facing a host of threats from extremism and violence, Peres’ death is an irretrievable loss.
(PR Kumaraswamy teaches at JNU, New Delhi.The views expressed are personal.)