Shimon Peres (Hebrew: שמעון פרס, born Szymon Perski on August 2, 1923) 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 two times as Prime Minister of Israel, one time as Acting Prime Minister, and has served in 12 cabinets over a political career lasting over 66 years.
Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until 2007, when he became President.
Born in Poland in 1923, Peres 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.
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