Title: Foreign Minister of Israel

Date of birth: August 1923, Poland

Background information: Peres has focused on bringing peace to Israel, even though it may have become harder when the right-wing Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon came into power - who is known as an aggressive military tactician, not peace negotiator. Peres masterminded the first interim peace accord with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1993 in Oslo. For this achievment - he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, sharing it with Yasser Arafat and former Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin in 1994.