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. ROS- 
LEHTINEN, 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 fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
RESOLUTION 
Honoring the life of Shimon Peres. 
Whereas Shimon Peres was born as Szymon Perski on Au-
gust 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 in-
volved 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 gen-
eral 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 var-
ious 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 min-
ister 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 dedica-
tion to achieving peace; and 
Whereas Peres is survived by his three children and multiple 
grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) extends its deepest sympathies to the people 
of Israel and to the family of Shimon Peres in their 
bereavement; and 
(2) honors the dedication Peres showed to serv-
ing his country and preserving the security, pros-
perity, and peace of the State of Israel. 
Æ 
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