With a political career spanning 66 years, Shimon Peres is the current President of Israel and twice prime minister. Prior to his transformation from hawk to dove, he was responsible for arms acquisition at the age of 24, went on to create and implement Israel's nuclear programme and its aircraft and military industry. He later won the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for his work on the Oslo peace accords between Palestine and Israel.
Interviewees
Shimon Peres
President of Israel
Mika Peres
President Peres insisted upon his granddaughter's contribution - and it quickly became apparent why. Mika gives a unique insight into the personality of Israel's elder statesman - helping us understand the character traits behind the successes and failures of his leadership and how these have shaped the Middle East.
President Yitzhak Navon
As the fifth President of Israel he was first former-president to return to his position as a member of the Knesset (Israel's parliament). Navon give's a perspective from his experience that allows him to fully appreciate the complexities and conflicts of government in Israel faced by Peres.
Professor Michael Bar-Zohar
Official biographer to David Ben-Gurion (Israel's founding father) and Shimon Peres (a close friend). Bar Zohar is also an Israeli historian, writer, former Knesset member and witness to some of Peres's most heart-breaking moments in leadership (he led him and Yitzhak Rabin's wife, Leah, to see the just-assassinated body of Prime minister Rabin). Bar-Zohar won the Sokolov Award for his journalism in 1965.
Efrat Duvdevani
Director General of Israeli President’s Residence. Worked for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and was employed by Shimon Peres in various roles directly after Rabin's assassination.
Uri Savir
Chief Negotiator for Israel in the secret negotiations with the PLO which led to the Oslo peace agreement. There is perhaps only one other man who knows as well as Savir what it takes to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians - former Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei - the man he negotiated with. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1999 and 2001and is now president of the Glocal Forum, a non-profit organisation involved in international relations. He is also a director of the Shimon Peres Center For Peace.
Ahmed Qurei
Palestinian politician and former prime minister. He was the chief negotiator for Palestine during the Oslo Accords - the closest there has ever been to peace with Israel.
Uri Avnery
Israeli writer, politician and peace campaigner who became the first Israeli to meet with Yasser Arafat. Gush Shalom founder and former editor of Haolam Hazeh. He served in the Knesset from 1965 to 1973 and again from 1977 to 1981.
Gideon Levy
Aide to Peres in the 70s during his rivalry with Yitzhak Rabin, he resigned and now writes for Haaretz - Israel's leading left wing national newspaper.
Rut Dayan
Ex-wife of military hero and political leader General Moshe Dayan and life-long friend of Suha Arafat's mother - Palestinian militant Raymonda Taweel. Rut is one of the last surviving political activists who can claim older roots to the land than Peres (she was born in Haifa, 1917). One of the few native Israelis who experienced peaceful co-existence before the creation of the modern state. An active campaigner for women’s rights and peace in the Middle East.
Rabbi Arik Ascherman
Israeli peace activist who puts himself on the frontline, believing there's nothing like "standing shoulder to shoulder" with Arab-Israelis and Palestinians when it comes to delivering peace. Ascherman sits at the intersection of religion and human rights as an executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights.
Dr Ahmad Tibi
Arab-Israeli politician and former advisor to Yasser Arafat. Deputy speaker of the Knesset and leader of the Ta’al party.
