Setting The Record Straight on Shimon Peres’ Legacy

FEATURING HUWAIDA ARRAF – Shimon Peres, former President and Prime Minister of Israel, who served for decades in the Israeli government under various capacities, died on September 28 at the age of 93. Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with Yasser Arafat and Yizhak Rabin for his role in the Oslo Accords.

Newspaper obituaries in Western papers describe Peres’ legacy with glowing language using words like, “visionary,” “dreamer,” and “warrior for peace.” But in fact Palestinians see Shimon Peres’ legacy as steeped in violence through his push for settlements and greater Israeli militarism. Few in the mainstream press have acknowledged his role in building up Israel’s nuclear capabilities, and his oversight of a brutal slaughter of civilians in Qana, South Lebanon in 1996.

Huwaida Arraf, Palestinian American human rights activist, lawyer and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. She is also the former Chair of the Free Gaza Movement.