Former Israeli President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres was in “critical but stable” condition Wednesday morning, a day after suffering a stroke, a hospital official said, but the nation’s health minister said he was becoming more optimistic about Peres’ condition.
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Peres, 93, is in severe but stable condition, and is intubated and sedated, following Tuesday’s stroke, said Dr. Yitshak Kreiss, manager of Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where Peres is being treated.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported Peres’ son-in-law and personal doctor Professor Rafi Walden said Peres seemed responsive when taken out of the induced coma for a short while overnight.
He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israel’s former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for reaching, in 1993, an interim peace deal which never hardened into a lasting treaty.
Peres is the elder statesman of Israeli politics and the last surviving link to the country’s founding fathers. “Shimon, we love you and the whole nation wishes you a recovery”.
The Nobel Peace Prize victor is sedated and on a respirator, Kreiss said. But he said Peres’ neurological signs were improving.
“We are very close to him”, he said.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian, for their contribution to the Oslo Accords that were meant to lay the foundations for a resolution Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In January, Peres was hospitalized twice after experiencing a mild heart attack and an irregular heartbeat, and had a pacemaker implanted last week.
Mr Peres was taken to hospital for examination on Tuesday after suffering from a headache.
His son, Hemi Peres, said the family has been overwhelmed with the love and affection it has received from Israel and around the world.
Since leaving the presidency, Peres frequently hosted public events at his peace center, bringing together Arabs and Jews in efforts to promote coexistence.
“I’m so happy to return to work, that was the whole goal of this operation”, he told reporters. We are receiving a huge number of messages from Israel and overseas from all our friends who are surrounding us with love and care.
Born in Wiszniewo, Poland, he was one of the founders of the Labor-Zionist Youth Movement and a member of the Hagana during the pre-state period.
He became director general of the nascent defence ministry at just 29 years old.
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Beyond his accomplishments in the public eye, Peres was also seen as a driving force in the development of Israel’s undeclared nuclear programme.
