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SHIMON PERES

Name: Shimon Peres                                                               
Born: 2 August 1923 Wiszniew, Poland (now Belarus)                               
                                                                                 
Shimon Peres (born Szymon Perski on August 2, 1923 in Wiszniew, Poland)           
is the ninth and current President of the State of                               
Israel. Peres has long been a popular and important politician in Israel - he     
previously served three times as Prime Minister of Israel and has served in 12   
cabinets over a political career lasting over 65 years. Peres was elected to the 
Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, 
served continuously until June 13, 2007, the day he was inaugurated as president. 
                                                                                 
Peres was born in 1923 in Wiszniew, Poland. He moved with his family to Mandate   
Palestine in 1934. He held several diplomatic and military positions during and   
directly after the War for Independence in Israel. His first high level           
government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defense in 1952, and       
Director-General in 1953 through 1959. During his career, he has represented     
five political parties in the Knesset: Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, Labour and     
Kadima, and has led Alignment and Labour. Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize   
together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks which he       
participated in as Israeli Foreign Minister, producing the Oslo Accords.         
Peres was nominated in early 2007 by Kadima to run in that year's presidential   
election, being elected by the Knesset for the presidency on June 13, 2007 and   
sworn into office on July 15, 2007 for a seven-year term.