In addition to having been the president and serving as prime minister three times – once briefly in an acting capacity – he had been foreign minister, information minister, finance minister and defense minister. The late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, his longtime rival, once called him an “inveterate schemer.”To many, Peres seemed a contradictory figure. Although he served as prime minister three times, he was never elected to the office and remained unpopular with voters. In the 1970s, as defense minister, Peres encouraged Jewish settlers to claim land in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights. In 1974, when Rabin won the leadership of the Labor Party over Peres and became prime minister, he appointed Peres defense minister.

Source: National Post September 28, 2016 02:41 UTC