Shimon Peres (ne Persky) was born in Vishneva, Poland on August 21, 1923. He emigrated to Palestine with his family in 1934, attended high schools in Tel Aviv for three years, and graduated from the Ben-Shemen agricultural youth village. He attended night school for two years at the New School for Social Research in New York City, followed by a four month management program at Harvard University. He is a former member of Kibbutz Alumot, where he resided briefly, and has served in a wide range of government and political party posts in Israel for over fifty years. He was director general of the Defense Ministry from 1953-1959 and has been a member of the Knesset since 1959, during which period he has held numerous ministerial, sub-ministerial and party positions, and currently serves as Prime Minister of Israel and leader of the Labor Party. For many years, he served as a Vice-President of the Socialist International.
The quotations have been compiled from major newspapers and journals, from speeches published by the Israel Government, and from two books written by Mr. Peres, "Battling for Peace" (Random House, New York, 1995) and "The New Middle East" (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1993).