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Backgrounder: Life and political career of Shimon Peres

CCTV.com

09-28-2016 10:35 BJT

Israel's elder statesmen - and former president - Shimon Peres has died at 93 years old. Here's a look back at his life and political career.

Hours before suffering a stroke, a video of former Israeli President Shimon Peres was posted on Facebook - encouraging Israelis to buy locally-made products.

He appeared tired, but alert and coherent. Peres was rushed to a hospital, put in a medically-induced coma and placed on a ventilator.  His office says he received a pacemaker in early September.

"I know that my father did not care about anything as much as he cares about people, as much as he cares about Israel, the Jewish people and the people in Israel," said Chemi Peres, son of Chemi Peres.

In a career spanning nearly seven decades, Peres, served in a dozen cabinets and twice as a Labour Party prime minister, most recently showing solidarity with the victims of the Paris and Belgium terror attacks.

From 2007 to 2014, he served as the ninth president of Israel - meeting with other heads of state, like U.S. President Barack Obama on the conflict in Iraq.

And Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014 as the Chinese urged Israel toward renewed peace talks with the Palestinians.

Peres was perhaps best known for reaching an interim peace deal when he was Israel's foreign minister in 1993 along with Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat. It was known as the Oslo Peace Accords.

He would later win a Nobel Peace Prize with Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, even though the peace did not last.

When Rabin was assassinated for his support of that deal in 1995, Peres became prime minister.

But he ultimately lost power to the more conservative - Benjamin Netanyahu - as efforts to revive the Palestinian peace talks continue. Peres was not afraid to criticize his successor.

As a former president, Peres cultivated an image as Israel's elder statesman, hosting public events at his peace center. Even after leaving public office, he still worked to bring together Arabs and Jews.

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