Shimon Peres dead: Former Israeli president dies after suffering stroke at 93
Former Israeli President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres, a founding father of the country celebrated around the world as a visionary for peace, has died at the age of 93.
The Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Aviv announced Mr Peres’s death at 3.40am Wednesday morning, according to the official government Israel New Agency.
US President Barack Obama led tributes to the Israeli statesman, whom he described as a friend and the “essence of Israel itself,” saying: “A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever”.
Prime Minister Theresa May joined Mr Obama in calling Mr Peres a “courageous and visionary statesman” who “worked relentlessly for peace and never lost hope that this would one day be achievable”.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said Mr Peres was “a partner in making the peace of the brave”, also praising his devotion to peace efforts.
Mr Peres, who evolved during his 66-year-long career in politics to become an indefatigable campaigner for Middle East peace, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for brokering the historic Oslo interim peace accords with the Palestinian leadership. He continued to work on programmes promoting Israeli-Arab co-existence after he retired from politics in 2014.
Read the rest of the article here.
