Israeli Prime Minister who applied for Palestinian citizenship: Who is Shimon Peres?

Peres received the Nobel Peace Prize for the Oslo Peace Agreement he negotiated with the Palestinians in 1994 and shared this award with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated.

Born in Belarus in 1923, Israel's 9th Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, applied for a Palestinian visa in the hope of obtaining Palestinian citizenship while immigrating to the historical Palestinian lands in his youth. Peres, who came to Palestinian lands as a "refugee", worked as a farmer and swore loyalty to the Palestinian government with the statement: "I swear to God Almighty that I will be loyal and loyal to the Palestinian government."

Peres, who was once able to enter Palestinian territory only with "permission", played a major role in the process leading to the establishment of Israel by joining the armed Zionist Haganah organization that organized attacks against Palestinians. Peres, who played one of the most active roles in the "Nakba" process, in which more than 750 thousand Palestinians were expelled from their homeland never to return, was also the mastermind and planner of the nuclear weapons program that enabled Israel to obtain an atomic bomb.

Shimon Peres (2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of Israel from 2007 to 2014. He was a member of twelve cabinets and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years. Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and except for a three-month-long interregnum in early 2006, served as a member of the Knesset continuously until he was elected president in 2007. Serving in the Knesset for 48 years (with the first uninterrupted stretch lasting more than 46 years), Peres is the longest serving member in the Knesset's history. At the time of his retirement from politics in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation.

Peres, who was elected to the Knesset in November 1959, served until he was elected president in 2007. Shimon Peres, who served as minister of defense and minister of foreign affairs during his 48 years as a member of parliament, served as prime minister and president for two terms.

He led the Entebbe operation

At the beginning of his long political career, Peres was responsible for personnel affairs and arms procurement for the Haganah organization, the predecessor of the Israeli Army.

At the time of Israel's founding, it made an agreement with France to purchase Mirage fighter jets.

He was Israel's Minister of Defense in 1976 when Palestinians took a hijacked plane to Uganda's Entebbe Airport. He led the operation in which more than 100 hostages were rescued.

Peres, who once defended Jewish settlements in the West Bank, later became a leading political figure.

Peres has often said that concessions must be made regarding Palestinians' land demands.

Life story

Born in Poland in 1923, Peres immigrated to Palestine with his family when he was 11 years old. Just before the establishment of Israel, Peres participated in the state-establishment struggle as the person responsible for arms purchases. After Israel was established, he was the head of the team that carried out military cooperation with the USA in the 1950s. During this period, he also completed his university education in the USA.

He planned the Suez War

He was sent by Israel's founder Ben Gurion to secret talks with France to plan the 1956 Suez War. He not only made an agreement for war but also took the steps Israel needed to become a nuclear power, with the help of France.

The fact that, unlike many Israeli politicians of his age, he held positions related to the diplomatic aspects of military service rather than military service, was the subject of criticism against him.

Peres entered the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, for the first time in 1959 and remained there for 48 years. He served as a minister 12 times and as Prime Minister twice. He sometimes served as president and sometimes as vice president of five different parties that are considered left-wing or left-of-center in Israeli politics.

From defending security policies to defending peace policies

Peres was called "Mr. Security" in Israel during his early years in politics. One year after the 1967 war, in which Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula, he supported the establishment of Jewish settlements in the occupied lands. According to him, Jewish settlements were the eyes and roots of Israel. He continued this policy during his duties as the Minister of Transport, Immigration, and Defense during this period.

In those years, Peres was also against the establishment of a Palestinian state. In his book "Tomorrow is Now", which he wrote in 1978, he said:

"We can establish three structures, Israel, Jordan, and a new structure that will be governed by both."

The change in Peres' political stance began in 1978, after the Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt. He supported the dispersal of Jewish settlements in the Sinai Peninsula.

When he entered the elections in 1981, he faced the reaction of the Israeli rightists, was pelted with tomatoes in the election squares, and even could not hold some of the rallies he had planned. He became the main opposition leader in the 1981 elections.

Although his party received the most votes in the elections held in 1984, it could not obtain the necessary majority to form a government, but he became the Prime Minister of the coalition government formed with Likud. He remained in this position for two years in accordance with the coalition protocol with Likud, then left the prime ministership to Likud leader Izhak Shamir and became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

During his first term as prime minister, he limited the number of Jewish settlements, and from then on the image of him being a "dove" was established.

The politician who always loses

His party was not the leading party in the 1988 elections, but it became a coalition partner. At that time, Israel was going through a severe economic crisis. So much so that inflation reached around 450 percent. As Deputy Prime Minister responsible for the economy, Peres implemented a market-centered liberal program that envisaged restricting public expenditures and freezing wages.

One of the most common political jokes known in Israel was:

"-When do you know that Peres will lose? -When he announces that he will enter the elections."

As a matter of fact, after serving as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the economy, Peres remained the leader of the opposition until 1992, but he lost the Chairmanship of the Workers' Party to Yitzhak Rabin, and he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In those years, he was described as 'a person prone to compromise' by the Israeli right-wingers, but these criticisms did not prevent the Oslo agreements between Israel and Palestine in 1993. This agreement envisaged the gradual resolution of the Palestine problem and the establishment of the State of Palestine.