Chai pe charcha with Shimon Peres, among tallest of our times

The global outpouring of condolence messages mourning the death of Israel's former President Shimon Peres last week was more than customary ritualism. It was a tribute to a stalwart of our times, a fierce warrior, gentle peacemaker and wise statesman whose leadership will be missed by Israel, a Middle-East in extraordinary and unprecedented turmoil, and a world that is yet to find peace and equilibrium among nations. Till old age and its associated afflictions forced him into a cloistered life away from media glare, Shimon Peres did not have to exert himself to be in the news; the news chased him. I recall during one of my many visits to Israel, he featured in possibly every newspaper in West Asia for "making history as the first Israeli President to address the Turkish Parliament". To thunderous applause, Peres expressed gratitude to Turkey for providing refuge to Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. That was long before Islamist Erdogan showed his true colours and led Turkey down the treacherous slope of Islamism. Jews are no longer safe in Turkey, nor the Israeli mission there. What made the event important -- apart from an Israeli addressing Prime Minister Abdullah Gul's Islamist party-dominated Parliament -- was the presence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who attended his old frenemy's funeral, defying popular opinion in the West Bank. On that occasion, I had written in these columns how yesterday's foes could not have come closer today; nor would an Israeli head of state have dreamt of asserting with any conviction that "peace is possible with the Palestinians and other neighbouring Arab countries ... in the entire region, from Syria to Yemen". Israel stands, its neighbours are busy pulverising each other as Westphalian states morph into vast wastelands. The peace that Peres pursued seems more distant than ever: Peace, yes, but with whom? Peres has made the journey to the other world as a peacemaker. Yet there was a time when he would be counted among Israeli hardliners like David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Dayan who wouldn't countenance the very thought of accommodation with Palestinians, leave alone the Arab countries, and actively propagated the concept of settlements in Gaza and West Bank to push Israel's frontiers to its biblical past. That was many decades ago; the hawk later turned into a dove. He didn't tire talking of peace in our time. Few would recall today, including in Israel, that Shimon Peres was born Szymon Perski in eastern Poland in 1923. He arrived in the British mandate of Palestine in 1934 and seven years later entered politics as an elected official of the Labour Zionist Youth Movement. Later, he joined the Hagannah, procuring arms to defend Israel from its Arab neighbours. Between then and the present, for him it was a long journey in politics and an eventful public life. Peres was elected to the Knesset in 1959, and remained a member of Israel's Parliament till his election as President a few months before I met him in Jerusalem -- easily a record of sorts for any politician in any country. Travelling across the political spectrum, from Mapai (which he left along with Dayan and Ben-Gurion after the 'Lavon Affair') to Kadima (which he joined convinced that Ariel Sharon alone could deliver peace), he emerged as a senior statesman and peacemaker in his latter years, having served as Prime Minister thrice and as Minister in 12 Cabinets. Along the road to the highest (though largely ceremonial) office in Israel, he picked up the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for his role in the negotiations leading to the Oslo Agreements. Of the troika who reached the cusp of peace but didn't quite succeed in securing it, Rabin and Arafat died years ago; the former was assassinated by an Israeli extremist for conceding too much, the latter of ill health. Standing outside the President's residence in Jerusalem, waiting for security clearance as a young woman scrupulously checked my palms and fingernails for traces of explosives with a high-tech gadget, I wondered what would Peres be like in real life. A ponderous old man? A pompous politician? A cynical manipulator? As we were shown into his rather modest book-lined office (lesser 'leaders' in India have far more opulent offices), Peres, now stooped but easily more than a couple of inches taller than me, lumbered over from his desk, exuding grandfatherly warmth and an easy charm. Over the next 45 minutes he held forth, effortlessly, on the prospects of a lasting agreement on Palestine and Israel's alarm over Iran's nuclear programme. Despite Cassandras both at home and abroad predicting that Annapolis, the new Oslo, would be another stillborn affair (they were proved right), Peres was confident that Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers would keep their date -- in the event, they did keep their date but nothing came of that bold move towards a peace deal. "Diplomacy is the art of the possible. Annapolis will not be an end by itself, it will lead to a sort of beginning," he said. Like many other optimists in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Washington, he believed a declaration of intent would be issued (that happened) and the "real negotiations will start" (which eluded all). Looking back at the wasted years spent hunting for an elusive deal acceptable to both Israelis and Palestinians, Peres recalled how King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1987 and offered his help to form a Palestinian confederation. "The Israelis torpedoed it ... I believe we shouldn't have taken on the job of managing Gaza and West Bank," he added. In 1987 Peres wouldn't have said this. But Israel wasn't to blame entirely. Referring to the talks preceding Oslo, he recalled, "Yasser Arafat agreed to the 1967 border." This is not what is popularly known of the Oslo talks -- Arafat would never agree to specifics, not at Oslo, nor later, including at Tabah. Then came the rider, "Without him we couldn't have started (talking), with him we couldn't finish." Then came Rabin's assassination and the suicide bombings which made "things difficult". That was putting it mildly. He recalled how he was informed, while on his way to office in 1996, of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in which 50 Israelis were killed. "The square was full of blood ... Next day there was a blast in Tel Aviv." Peres, who by then had begun to push for a land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians, was branded a "traitor" at home. "Extremism took over the centre," he said impassively. That 'extremism' yielded space to pragmatism in 2007 -- both in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Mahmoud Abbas realised that this could be the moment in history which Palestinians had been waiting for; then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert felt Israel couldn't have a better opportunity to strike a deal and cut its losses. "We are closer to peace than ever before. Everything is negotiable ... prejudices, differences and obstacles," explained Peres. Palestinian obstinacy, fuelled by Hamas's criminality, ensured this wouldn't happen. Even while pursuing and promoting a peace deal, Peres remained firm that there couldn't be any compromise on Israel's position against conceding the Palestinians' demand for the refugees' 'right to return'. "They can return to the Palestinian state," he said. The steel in his voice was not to be missed -- shades of the hawk? He paused for a moment, and then added with a flourish, "You don't look for the most popular but the most promising (deal)." In 1994, Peres had famously declared, "History is one long misunderstanding." Did he still subscribe to that view? "These days I recommend young people not to read history," he said with a chuckle, rubbing his hands. Tea was served by two elderly tea ladies who fussed over Mr President. He had a sip, thought for a while, and then picked up the thread of the conversation, really a long monologue, but not boring at all. "There was a time when people made a living from land, so they annexed territory ... Today, existence does not come from land but science. So, there's no reason for war. Intellectual energy will fuel the future," Peres said. If only the real world had been so easily persuaded, it would have been a happier, peaceful place. As the meeting came to an end, Peres remembered to mention that he continued to be "fascinated by India" and how he connected Jawaharlal Nehru with 'wisdom', MK Gandhi with 'moral strength' and Rabindranath Tagore with 'love'. It's a vastly different India today, one which would find such views quaint. Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.