world » Israel ’s Statesman

Look to the
Future.

S

Avraham Vered/IDF and Defense Ministry Archives

himon Peres, 93, the last of his gen-
eration of Israel’s leaders, outlived
his rivals and fiercest critics. He
died early Sept. 28.
A hawkish defense minister who for a
time supported settlements, he became
the prophet of peace and compromise.
Once the most mocked and mistrusted
of his country’s politicians, he became its

most popular leader, almost certainly the
best-known and most beloved Israeli in the
world in this century.
In recent years, the Israeli Presidential
Conference — known simply as the Peres
Conference — became a Jewish version of
the Davos Economic Forum. It was a buzz-
worthy annual extravaganza in Jerusalem
that attracted thousands of delegates and
dozens of world dignitaries, Nobel Prize
winners, thought leaders and pop enter-

Shimon Peres speaks during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in
Jerusalem, April 22, 2013.

tainers, primarily due to the aura and influ-
ence of Peres, who served as Israel’s presi-
dent from 2007 until he retired in 2014 as
the world’s oldest head of state.
Surrounded by headline-makers from
Henry Kissinger to Sharon Stone to Barbra
Streisand, who serenaded him on the
occasion of his 90th birthday celebration
in 2013, Peres was the star attraction at
the forums, sharing his charming apho-
risms on subjects from the political to the
personal.
At the 2012 conference, near the end of
a session on learning from one’s mistakes,
Peres said, “Close your eyes a little bit,” in
warning against striving for perfection.
“You cannot make love or peace with open
eyes.”
Some would argue that he made peace
with his eyes closed, winning a Nobel Peace

Government Press Office

New York Jewish Week

Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo

The Peres Legacy:

Prize (along with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser
Arafat) for the 1993 Oslo Accord that was
heralded with great expectations for Israeli-
Palestinian reconciliation, but soon turned
to violence. His 1993 book, The New Middle
East, envisioned strong ties between Arab
and Jew, along with secure borders and a
thriving economy.
While some called Peres a dreamer, oth-
ers saw him as a visionary. Either way, he
always focused on the future, and “Facing
Tomorrow” was the theme of the last
presidential conference he hosted as he
turned 90.

LOOKING FORWARD
Born Syzmon Perski in Poland, he came to
Israel at age 11 and became a favored aide
of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-
Gurion. Peres was credited with playing a

28 October 6 • 2016

Peres Center for Peace

Government Press Office

Top Left: Sonia and Shimon Peres with their three children.
Top Right: Peres at 13 in his native Poland in 1936.
Bottom Left: Nobel Peace Prize laureates for 1994 in Oslo: PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat,
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Bottom Right: Peres welcomes Ethiopian children who were airlifted to Israel.