Shimon Peres: Israel’s warrior for peace dies

By Oren Liebermann, CNN
Updated 4:33 PM EDT, Wed September 28, 2016
An archive portrait taken on January 14, 1985 in Jerusalem shows Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres speaking. AFP PHOTO ESAIAS BAITEL / AFP / ESAIAS BAITEL (Photo credit should read ESAIAS BAITEL/AFP/Getty Images)
ESAIAS BAITEL/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
An archive portrait taken on January 14, 1985 in Jerusalem shows Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres speaking. AFP PHOTO ESAIAS BAITEL / AFP / ESAIAS BAITEL (Photo credit should read ESAIAS BAITEL/AFP/Getty Images)
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Story highlights

Peres was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat

"Peace is costly," Peres once said. "Only thing is, war costs more"

(CNN) —  

Shimon Peres, the Israeli elder statesman who shared a Nobel Prize for forging a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, has died. He served as a constant force for generations in Israeli politics.

The 93-year-old died after suffering a massive stroke two weeks ago. He was reported to be making progress but doctors said he took a turn for the worse Tuesday.

In top leadership roles over the decades – including Prime Minister and President – the Labor Party veteran became a face of the Jewish State, instantly recognized and well-respected in Israel and across the globe.

“There’s no corner of this country that he hasn’t touched,” Zionist Union Chairman Isaac Herzog once said. “Everywhere he goes around the world, people listen to him.”

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (L), Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres (C) and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin display their Nobel Peace Prizes.
Getty Images/Getty Images
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (L), Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres (C) and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin display their Nobel Peace Prizes.

Over 50 years in politics

Peres retired from public office in 2014 after the end of his seven-year term as President. In Israeli politics for more than half a century, he held virtually every position in Cabinet, from minister of defense to Prime Minister, a position he held three times.

He battled Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for Labor Party leadership in the 1980s and 1990s, eventually becoming Rabin’s foreign minister.

Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to reporters outside of the West Wing after meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House on June 25, 2014 in Washington, DC.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to reporters outside of the West Wing after meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House on June 25, 2014 in Washington, DC.

Related Article World leaders react to news of Peres' death.

In that role, Peres concluded the Oslo Peace Accords, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 with Rabin and Yasser Arafat.

“I am very grateful to him for a lifetime of thinking big thoughts and dreaming big dreams and figuring out practical ways to achieve them,” President Bill Clinton once said of a man he considered a friend.

People we’ve lost in 2016

After Rabin was assassinated in 1995, Peres became Prime Minister, calling early elections so the government would have a mandate to pursue a two-state solution. But a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks left Peres struggling to defend the peace process, ultimately costing him the next election.

Former Israel Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres' career in politics spanned several generations. He's seen here during a meeting with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout on May 5, 2010.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Bernat Armangue/AP
Former Israel Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres' career in politics spanned several generations. He's seen here during a meeting with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout on May 5, 2010.
Shimon Peres was born on August 2, 1923 in Wisniew, Poland, where he lived before his family migrated to British-mandate Palestine in 1932. He is pictured here, center, with his mother, Sarah, and younger brother Gershon.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Facebook
Shimon Peres was born on August 2, 1923 in Wisniew, Poland, where he lived before his family migrated to British-mandate Palestine in 1932. He is pictured here, center, with his mother, Sarah, and younger brother Gershon.
Peres is seen here with his wife Sonia Peres and daughter, Ziviah, in 1946. The couple also had two other children, sons Chemi Peres and Yoni Peres.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Facebook
Peres is seen here with his wife Sonia Peres and daughter, Ziviah, in 1946. The couple also had two other children, sons Chemi Peres and Yoni Peres.
Peres is seen here at left with Moshe Dayan, center, an Israeli military leader and politician, at the Taj Mahal in India, circa 1950. Peres entered politics in 1959 as a member of the left-wing Mapai party, a precursor to the modern Labor party. His political career lasted more than half a century, and he held virtually every position in Israel's Cabinet.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Facebook
Peres is seen here at left with Moshe Dayan, center, an Israeli military leader and politician, at the Taj Mahal in India, circa 1950. Peres entered politics in 1959 as a member of the left-wing Mapai party, a precursor to the modern Labor party. His political career lasted more than half a century, and he held virtually every position in Israel's Cabinet.
Peres retired from public office in 2014 after a seven-year term as President. By then, he had been in Israeli politics for more than half a century, holding virtually every position in the Cabinet and emerging as a staunch advocate for peace in the Middle East. Here, Peres sits in his office in Tel Aviv, Israel, in November 1969.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Fondation Gilles Caron/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
Peres retired from public office in 2014 after a seven-year term as President. By then, he had been in Israeli politics for more than half a century, holding virtually every position in the Cabinet and emerging as a staunch advocate for peace in the Middle East. Here, Peres sits in his office in Tel Aviv, Israel, in November 1969.
Peres, left, with then-Israel Defense Minister Ariel Sharon on January 2, 1974 in Ras Sudar in Egypt's Sinai Desert. The two were visiting one of the sites of the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
Peres, left, with then-Israel Defense Minister Ariel Sharon on January 2, 1974 in Ras Sudar in Egypt's Sinai Desert. The two were visiting one of the sites of the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states.
Peres, then Israel's Minister of Defense, pointing over Israel's northern border towards Lebanon during a tour of Lebanese border defenses on January 22, 1976.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Peres, then Israel's Minister of Defense, pointing over Israel's northern border towards Lebanon during a tour of Lebanese border defenses on January 22, 1976.
Defense Minister and acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres speaks with Israeli Arabs before Israelis go to the polls in Umm al-Fahm, Israel, on May 17, 1977 in the country's national elections.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Bettmann Archive
Defense Minister and acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres speaks with Israeli Arabs before Israelis go to the polls in Umm al-Fahm, Israel, on May 17, 1977 in the country's national elections.
Shimon Peres speaking in the Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel in Israel on May 10, 1977.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Francois LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
Shimon Peres speaking in the Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel in Israel on May 10, 1977.
Israeli Labor Party leader Shimon Peres in Paris in 1981. He chaired the left-leaning party until 1992.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli Labor Party leader Shimon Peres in Paris in 1981. He chaired the left-leaning party until 1992.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, right, consults with Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 26, 1986, during a vote in the Israeli parliament, Knesset, about shipments of arms to Iran.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, right, consults with Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 26, 1986, during a vote in the Israeli parliament, Knesset, about shipments of arms to Iran.
Right-wing Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir, center, walks past Labor party leaders Yitzhak Rabin, left, and Shimon Peres during a special Knesset summer session meeting on May 7, 1990, in Jerusalem.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
Right-wing Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir, center, walks past Labor party leaders Yitzhak Rabin, left, and Shimon Peres during a special Knesset summer session meeting on May 7, 1990, in Jerusalem.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, with an unidentified aide, signs a peace agreement on September 13, 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Oslo, Norway. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, President Bill Clinton and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat look on from behind.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Ron Edmonds/AP
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, with an unidentified aide, signs a peace agreement on September 13, 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Oslo, Norway. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, President Bill Clinton and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat look on from behind.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin display their Nobel Peace Prizes on December 10, 1994 in Oslo, Norway.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Getty Images/Getty Images
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin display their Nobel Peace Prizes on December 10, 1994 in Oslo, Norway.
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and PLO Leader Yasser Arafat, from left, pose at their one-day Summit of Peacemakers in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on March 13, 1996.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Joe Marquette/AP
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and PLO Leader Yasser Arafat, from left, pose at their one-day Summit of Peacemakers in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on March 13, 1996.
Former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres makes a passionate plea for the Labor party to join a national unity government with the Likud party during a meeting of the party's central committee in Tel Aviv February 26, 2001. Peres' leadership spans decades, and generations. He retired from public office in 2014 after the end of his seven-year term as President.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
Former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres makes a passionate plea for the Labor party to join a national unity government with the Likud party during a meeting of the party's central committee in Tel Aviv February 26, 2001. Peres' leadership spans decades, and generations. He retired from public office in 2014 after the end of his seven-year term as President.
Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attend the 32nd annual memorial ceremony for the late Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in the southern Israeli kibbutz of Sde Boker on December 7, 2005.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Oded Balilty/AP
Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attend the 32nd annual memorial ceremony for the late Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in the southern Israeli kibbutz of Sde Boker on December 7, 2005.
Israel's Vice Premier and presidential candidate Shimon Peres casts his ballot during voting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on June 13, 2007, in Jerusalem. Peres' two rivals withdrew from the race after Peres won the first round of voting, clearing the way for him to become Israeli's ninth president.
Photos: Peace warrior: The life of Israel's Shimon Peres
PHOTO: Handout/Getty Images
Israel's Vice Premier and presidential candidate Shimon Peres casts his ballot during voting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on June 13, 2007, in Jerusalem. Peres' two rivals withdrew from the race after Peres won the first round of voting, clearing the way for him to become Israeli's ninth president.