(CNN)Shimon Peres, the Israeli elder statesman who shared a Nobel Prize for forging a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, has died. He served as a constant force for generations in Israeli politics.
The 93-year-old died after suffering a massive stroke two weeks ago. He was reported to be making progress but doctors said he took a turn for the worse Tuesday.
In top leadership roles over the decades -- including Prime Minister and President -- the Labor Party veteran became a face of the Jewish State, instantly recognized and well-respected in Israel and across the globe.
"There"s no corner of this country that he hasn"t touched," Zionist Union Chairman Isaac Herzog once said. "Everywhere he goes around the world, people listen to him."
Over 50 years in politics
Peres retired from public office in 2014 after the end of his seven-year term as President. In Israeli politics for more than half a century, he held virtually every position in Cabinet, from minister of defense to Prime Minister, a position he held three times.
He battled Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for Labor Party leadership in the 1980s and 1990s, eventually becoming Rabin"s foreign minister.
When Rabin was assassinated, Peres became Prime Minister for the third and final time, calling early elections so that the government would have a mandate to pursue a two-state solution.
But a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks tarnished his peace process.
"I know we are moving on a road full of dangers but we know also this is the right road, the best road, the only road upon which we have to move," Peres said in 1996.
Ultimately, the violence cost Peres the ensuing elections, but he never stopped believing in peace, carrying on the work of rival-turned-colleague Rabin.
"Peace is costly," Peres said in 2015 on the 20th anniversary of Rabin"s assassination. "Only thing is, war costs more."
Retired, sort of
In 2007, Peres became Israel"s ninth President, serving in the role until his retirement from politics in 2014 at the age of 91. He wasn"t done yet. After his retirement, he devoted his time to the Peres Center for Peace, an organization that works to build better ties between Israelis and Palestinians.
"The greatness of Shimon Peres is that he is beyond age," Herzog said.
Of all the Palestinians, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erakat may have known Peres the best.
"When I met him 25 years ago, I was a young professor," Erakat said in 2002. "I was angry about something, and he looked at me and he said, "Saeb, negotiation in pain and frustration for five years is cheaper than exchanging bullets for five minutes.""
Hope for children
When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Peres didn"t mention a life of civil service.
"I would like that somebody would write about me that I saved the life of one single child," Peres said in 2004. "This will satisfy more than anything else."
Perhaps a better answer came a decade earlier.
"I feel like a person that has served this country rightly and properly," he said. "And that is, in my judgment, the highest degree a person can feel."
On this day, there are few Israelis who would disagree.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/middleeast/shimon-peres-obit/index.html
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