Shimon Peres, a life

A timeline of Shimon Peres, from his birth in eastern Poland up to his swearing-in as Israel's ninth President.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• 1923 - Szymon Perski is born in eastern Poland • 1934 - Moves with his family to Mandatory Palestine • 1945 - Marries Sonya (nee Gelman); they have a daughter and two sons • 1947 - Joins the Hagana; David Ben-Gurion places him in charge of manpower, weapons buying • 1948 - Appointed head of naval services • 1949 - Heads the Defense Ministry's procurement delegation to the United States • 1952 - Appointed de-puty director-general of the Defense Ministry • 1953 - Appointed director-general of the ministry • 1956 - Puts Israel into a tri-national agreement with France and the United Kingdom during the 1956 Suez Crisis • 1959 - Voted into the Knesset • 1959 to 1965 - Serves as deputy defense minister • 1965 - Leaves Mapai, the Labor Party's predecessor, along with Ben-Gurion and becomes secretary-general of the Rafi party • 1969 - Becomes minister of immigrant absorption • 1970 to 1974 - Serves as minister of transportation and communications • 1974 - Loses to Yitzhak Rabin in battle to succeed Golda Meir; serves as Rabin's defense minister until 1977 • 1976 - The Entebbe rescue operation, the highlight of his tenure as defense minister • 1977 - Takes over from resigning prime minister Rabin as Labor leader, loses general elections to Likud's Menachem Begin • 1984 - Fails to win elections outright and national-unity government is formed; Peres serves as its prime minister from 1984 to 1986. During his term, Israel withdraws from Lebanon and an economic stabilization plan is initiated to address hyperinflation • 1986 to 1990 - Serves as vice premier and foreign minister, then finance minister, in unity government • 1992 - Loses Labor leadership to Rabin, who is elected prime minister. Serves as Rabin's foreign minister; initiates Oslo process • 1994 - Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with Rabin and Yasser Arafat • 1995 - After Rabin's as-sassination, becomes prime minister, but loses to Binyamin Netanyahu in 1996 elections • 2000 - Loses bid for pre-sidency to Likud candidate Moshe Katsav • 2005 - Announces he is leaving Labor to join Ariel Sharon's Kadima party • 2006 - Following Kadima's win in the general election, becomes vice premier and minister for the development of the Negev, Galilee and regional economy • June 13, 2007 - Elected Israel's ninth president • July 15, 2007 - Sworn in at Knesset induction ceremony