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 A campaigner for Middle East peace who played a seminal role
in Israeli politics for nearly 70 years, Peres was mourned by
world leaders and praised for his tireless engagement.
U.S. President Barack Obama said: "A light has gone out".
"There are few people who we share this world with who change
the course of human history, not just through their role in
human events, but because they expand our moral imagination and
force us to expect more of ourselves, Obama said in a statement.
"My friend Shimon was one of those people."
Despite many decades of rivalry with Peres, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-winger who defeated the
then-Labour Party leader in a 1996 election, praised him as a
stalwart of the center-left and a visionary.
"There were many things we agreed upon, and the number grew as
the years passed. But we had disagreements, a natural part of
democratic life," Netanyahu said after holding a minute's
silence at a specially convened cabinet meeting.
"Shimon won international recognition that spanned the globe.
World leaders wanted to be in his proximity and respected him.
Along with us, many of them will accompany him on his last
journey to eternal rest in the soil of Jerusalem."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement calling
Peres's death "a great loss to humanity and peace in the
region". It was not clear if he would attend the funeral, which
will take place on Friday at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl cemetery,
in a section dedicated to "Great Leaders of the Nation".
Obama, Britain's Prince Charles and U.S. Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill
Clinton, are among those expected to attend, Israeli radio
reported, although Israel's Foreign Ministry could not
immediately confirm the attendance list.
French President Francois Hollande confirmed that he would
attend, alongside his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.
POLITICAL LIFE
The announcement of the death was made at the Tel Hashomer
hospital by his son Chemi and son-in-law Rafi Walden.
"His life ended abruptly when he was still working on his great
passion, strengthening the country and striving for peace. His
legacy will remain with us all," Walden, who was also Peres's
personal physician, said.
Peres was part of almost every major political development in
Israel since its founding in 1948. In a 70-year career, he
served in a dozen cabinets and was twice prime minister.
He was first elected to Israel's parliament, the Knesset, in
1959 and barring a brief interlude in early 2006, held his seat
for 48 years, until he became president in 2007.
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In every role he undertook - from forging Israel's defense strategy
in the 1950s to running his eponymous peace foundation - Peres was
known for his energy and enthusiasm, even recording jokey YouTube
videos into his 90s.
"Optimists and pessimists die the same way," he said. "They just
live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist."
He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with the late former prime
minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for
reaching an interim peace deal in 1993, the Oslo Accords, which
never turned into a lasting treaty.
Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli ultra-nationalist who
opposed the interim accords, and it was Peres who took over as prime
minister after Rabin's death.
Peres is widely seen as having gained nuclear capabilities for
Israel by procuring the Dimona reactor from France while defense
ministry director-general in the 1950s.
As defense minister, he oversaw the 1976 Israeli rescue of hijacked
Israelis at Entebbe airport in Uganda.
In the Arab world, his legacy is tainted by the 1996 shelling of a
United Nations compound in the village of Qana in southern Lebanon
during an Israeli offensive. More than 100 civilians sheltering
there were killed. Peres was prime minister at the time, and Israel
said its forces had been aiming at militants firing rockets nearby.
Peres was also seen to have done little to rein in the expansion of
Israeli settlements on land captured during the 1967 Middle East
war, even if he was not an aggressive proponent of a policy that
Obama has described as an obstacle to peace.
Since 2007, when he was elected president at his second attempt,
Peres has played more of a ceremonial role, trying to raise Israel's
profile internationally while advocating for peace through his
foundation and on foreign travels.
Despite the influence he has had on Israel's landscape, his death is
not expected to have an impact on prospects for a return to peace
talks with the Palestinians.
(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Writing by Ori Lewis and
Luke Baker; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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