IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 137 

Honoring the life of Shimon Peres. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. JUDY CHU of 

California, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COFFMAN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 

CONNOLLY, Mr. COSTA, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. DONOVAN, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. 

ENGEL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. 

GABBARD, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. 

KING of New York, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 

MENG, Mr. MOULTON, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. ROKITA, Ms. ROSLEHTINEN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHNEIDER, 

Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Ms. 

TITUS, Mrs. TORRES, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. 

WEBER of Texas, Mr. YARMUTH, and Mr. ZELDIN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the life of Shimon Peres. 

Whereas Shimon Peres was born as Szymon Perski on August 21, 1923, in Vishnev, Poland, today part of Belarus; 

Whereas in 1934, he and his family emigrated to Israel, then 

the British-controlled Palestinian Mandate; 

Whereas Peres joined the pre-cursor to the Israeli army, the 

Haganah, helped found Kibbutz Geva, and became involved in the Hanoar Haoved youth movement; 


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•HRES 137 IH 

Whereas in 1945, Peres joined the Young Guard of Mapai, 

the political party that later became the Labor Party, 

and was elected to the steering committee; 

Whereas in 1945, Peres married Sonia Gelman, to whom he 

was married for more than 60 years until her passing in 

2011; 

Whereas in 1952, Peres was appointed deputy director general of the Defense Ministry of the State of Israel; 

Whereas Peres was elected as a Mapai member to the 

Knesset in 1959, where he would go on to serve for 50 

years; 

Whereas Peres, with David Ben-Gurion, worked to establish 

the labor party in 1968; 

Whereas Peres served in the Golda Meir government in various positions; 

Whereas Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin appointed Peres as 

defense minister in 1974; 

Whereas Peres led the labor party to victory in 1984, upon 

which he became Prime Minister, and then foreign minister in the unity government created with the Likud 

party; 

Whereas Peres worked to achieve a peace agreement with the 

PLO and successfully negotiated the Oslo Accords, which 

were signed in 1993; 

Whereas for his work on the Oslo Accords Peres, along with 

Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel 

Peace Prize in 1994; 

Whereas upon the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 

in 1995, Peres assumed the role of Prime Minister and 


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•HRES 137 IH 

led the country through a difficult period of mourning 

and unrest; 

Whereas in 1996, Peres founded the Peres Center for Peace, 

dedicated to promoting peace-building and cooperation 

between Israelis and Palestinians; 

Whereas in 2007, now a member of the Kadima party, Peres 

was elected as Israel’s ninth President; 

Whereas in July 2012, Peres was awarded the Presidential 

Medal of Freedom; 

Whereas in May 2014, Peres was awarded the Congressional 

Gold Medal; 

Whereas Peres passed away on September 28, 2016, in 

Israel, leaving a legacy of strong leadership and dedication to achieving peace; and 

Whereas Peres is survived by his three children and multiple 

grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) extends its deepest sympathies to the people 

3 of Israel and to the family of Shimon Peres in their 

4 bereavement; and 

5 (2) honors the dedication Peres showed to serv6 ing his country and preserving the security, pros7 perity, and peace of the State of Israel. 

Æ 


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