The night before last, at the age of 93, Shimon Peres ninth President of Israel, and a Nobel peace prize laureate, passed away.
Peres was one of the most standout politicians in Israel being a big supporter of the peace process, which he also invested his life towards the achievement of peace.
Peres attended some of the most important events in the history of Israel and had a major effect on the future and the character Israel has, during his life.
some of the events Peres took a part of were:
-Operation Entebbe, a successful counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission, carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. Shimon Peres was the minister of defence at this time.
-Oslo Accoreds, which are a series of agreements made in 1993 between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization as a part of the peace process between the both. At this time Peres was the foreign Minister and this was what Peres got his nobel prize for peace for.
-In 1995 after Itzhak Rabin was murdered, Peres became Prime Minister for the second time.
-In 1997 Peres founded “Peres Center for Peace”, a non-profit, non-government, non-political organization, which promotes peace-building between Israel and its neighbours (particularly between Israelis and Palestinians) as well as between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.
-In 2007 Peres became the President of Israel, until July 2014.
-In 2008 Peres became a Honorarily appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George, by Queen Elizabeth.
-In 2012 Peres got hisPresidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama.
Every person in Israel knows who Shimon Peres was, and all of the great things he did for Israel. Peres gives me inspiration just as he gave to many Israeli people. His quote “Optimists and pessimists die the exact same death, but they live very different lives!” shows his eternal optimism and the fact he never give up on peace even when it seemed impossible is unbelievable. He believed in Israel and worked all his life to make my country a better place. I hope we will continue what Shimon Peres started, by this we will keep his legacy.
By Hila Levisohn