Is Peres a narcissist, or just a Stalinist?

Peres's 80th birthday web site goes on-line
www.ynet.co.il
September 21, 2003
by Gal Mor

It's worth your while taking a peek at the Internet site that was unveiled on the occasion of the birthday of the leader of the opposition, Shimon Peres, and not only because of the events that were deleted from his CV, the selected quotes or the posters in his honor.

The new Internet site marking the 80th birthday celebrations of the leader of the opposition, MK Shimon Peres, has been unveiled.

The new site, which at this stage appears only in English (the Hebrew version is slated to appear in another two days), includes a graphic timeline, on which details from Peres's CV are included, beginning with his birth in Belarus (in the 1920s), photos of Peres's life during Israel's years of immigration and absorption (1934-1990), the years on Kibbutz Alumot, his activity as director general of the Ministry of Defense (1950), and his positions in government and the Knesset.

The important milestones that were deleted from Peres's CV are more interesting than the events that are mentioned on the site. Splitting off from Mapai in 1965, together with David Ben-Gurion, and joining up with Rafi (which Peres served as secretary-general), for example, wasn't mentioned at all. The same with his losses in the campaigns for the leadership of the Labor party in 1974 and 1977, when Peres was named party chairman only after the resignation of Yitzhak Rabin (following the disclosure of his wife Leah's dollar account), and his subsequent loss in the Knesset elections.

In addition, the London agreement, which he signed with King Hussein of Jordan in 1987, but which was rejected by the then-prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, is not mentioned. The "stinking maneuver" (March 1990) is not mentioned on the site, and Arafat was blacked-out of the photo of the signing ceremony of the Oslo agreement even though the other leaders who participated in the ceremony are clearly discerned.

Peres's loss in the 1996 elections is attributed to terror attacks ("terror attacks once again led Peres to the opposition," according to the site), and the years the Labor party spent in Sharon's government under Peres's leadership do not appear.

Also on the site: A link to the Peres Center for Peace's web site, greetings from world leaders on Peres's birthday, a photo album, a poster exhibition on Peres by students of design and art, and greetings from web surfers (with the possibility of adding a greeting yourself).

There is also an area full of Peres's quotes, including statements like "we are moving from a world of borders to a world of horizons," and "technology doesn't need a visa, ideas aren't inspected at customs," "the moment you are connected to the Internet in your room, the room becomes a part of the world, the wall and the distance will not prevent you from connecting."

In the framework of the birthday events, a panel discussion will be held tomorrow at Tel Aviv University on the topic of "the promises and risks of science and technology," with the participation of the founders of the Google search engine, Sergei Brin, who arrived in Israel together with Larry Page, and Yossi Vardi.