• Edited by:
    Arnon Lammfromm
  • English editing:
    Louise Fischer
  • Picture:
    Shimon Peres at the President's Residence, 18 July 2012
  • Photograph:
    Moshe Milner, GPO

Introduction

The late Shimon Peres was born in Poland in 1923 and passed away on 28 September 2016 (25 Elul 5776). He played a prominent part in the public life of Israel almost from the day of its establishment, serving in a series of government ministries, as a member of the Knesset (for 48 years), as prime minister (twice) and as president. Tens of thousands of documents in the Israel State Archives bear witness to his activities. Many of them cannot yet be revealed to the public, partly because of the sheer amount of material which needs to be declassified or because they are connected with state security.

To mark the first anniversary of the passing of Shimon Peres, we have chosen a small collection of documents. In the future we intend to present larger publications which will give a fuller picture of his contribution to the history of Israel. Most of the documents are in Hebrew and can be seen on our Hebrew website. Here we present a selection of speeches and letters in English.

This publication is part of the ISA’s commemorative series on Israel’s late presidents and prime ministers.

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