Veteran statesman Peres elected Israel president
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thursday June 14, 1:19 AM
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Veteran statesman Peres elected Israel president
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Veteran statesman Shimon Peres was elected president of Israel on
Wednesday, finally winning his first vote for top office and crowning a
record-breaking career spanning more than half a century.
The sole candidate in a second round vote held in parliament after his
rival contenders dramatically quit the race, Peres's victory was a
triumph that laid to rest the ghosts of seven years ago when he famously
lost the same ballot.
Elected by a landslide 86 votes to 23 in a result announced by
parliament speaker Dalia Itzik and greeted by a spontaneous outburst of
applause, he had been assured victory after rivals Reuven Rivlin and
Colette Avital pulled out.
Wearing a white skullcap, the 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate gave a
stirring speech vowing to unite the country as he stood before
magnificent wall tapestries designed by artist Marc Chagall in the
parliamentary lobby.
"From this moment on, I intend to be the representative of the entire
nation and I will devote myself entirely to its service," he said,
visibly moved as he bid farewell to parliament where he has been a
member for 48 consecutive years.
"The president's role is to embody the unity of the people," he told the
assembled gathering of dignitaries, among them Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert who feted the ninth president of Israel and outgoing lawmaker.
"The nation has spoken for the election of Shimon Peres to the position
of president of the State of Israel," said Olmert.
"It also wishes to mark its deep appreciation for the unparalleled life
of a man who has been present at every important moment in the history
of the country," added the prime minister.
Peres's election was the crowning triumph in a record-breaking career of
an octogenarian who has held just about every major office in a career
with a political pedigree second to none and stretching back five decades.
Admired abroad far more than at home, supporters say his international
prestige could lift the presidency out of disgrace with two consecutive
incumbents forced out by scandal, latterly Moshe Katsav accused of rape.
Peres, the two-time prime minister who has never won a national
election, has said the presidency could be his last service to Israel
but had been cautious about victory, saying it would take "God's help"
to win.
In the July 2000 presidential election, Peres was widely expected to
win, only to watch in shock as the then obscure Katsav, from Likud, beat
him for the prize after the surprise defection of ultra-Orthodox MPs.
Peres's humiliating defeat -- and his loss in 2005 of the Labour
leadership -- sealed his image as the perennial loser after failing to
lead his party to victory in parliamentary elections in 1977, 1981,
1984, 1988 and 1996.
But his age and decades of public service led many to appeal to
lawmakers to grant him Israel's highest, if largely ceremonial public
office.
"Say Yes to the Old Man," read half-page advertisements published in
leading Israeli dailies over the past week by a group of personalities,
in an allusion to a campaign used by the legendary premier David
Ben-Gurion in the 1960s.
Peres commands great respect abroad, including for his role in the 1993
Oslo accords with the Palestinians that awarded him, former premier
Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat the 1994 Nobel Peace
Prize.
One of his first top public jobs was as director general of the defence
ministry, a post to which he was appointed at the tender age of 29 and
held for seven years, until his election to parliament in 1959.
During his career, he has held a string of top posts, including the
foreign and defence portfolios, and is considered the father of the
Jewish state's biggest deterrent -- its suspected but undeclared nuclear
weapons programme.
Following his loss of the Labour leadership in 2005, he joined the new
centrist Kadima party founded by former premier Ariel Sharon, who
suffered a massive stroke just weeks later.
Peres also dedicates much of his time to promoting peace between Israel,
the Palestinians and the Arab world through his Peres Centre for Peace,
which hopes to build an infrastructure for peace by promoting
socio-economic development.
Born in 1923 in what was then Poland but is now Belarus, Peres emigrated
to Palestine when he was 11. He speaks English and French as well as
Hebrew. He and his wife Sonya have three children and six grandchildren.