Shimon Peres

JERUSALEM -- A gunman shot and killed Yitzhak Rabin last night in Tel Aviv as the prime minister left a joyful rally supporting his peace plans.The Israeli Cabinet met and named Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as interim prime minister. After a mourning period, Mr. Peres will likely be asked by Israel's president to form a new government.Mr. Rabin, 73, was shot three times as he walked toward his car at the end of the huge public rally in the Tel Aviv municipal square. He had spoken glowingly of peace, and with his wife had watched in clear enjoyment at the turnout, estimated at 80,000, in favor of his government's peacemaking with the Palestinians.

TEL AVIV, Israel - Shimon Peres, leader of Israel's opposition Labor Party, laid out for the first time Friday conditions under which his party would join the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In an interview with The New York Times, he said that Israel's evacuation of the Gaza Strip must be negotiated with the Palestinians, the timetable for the move decided now, and the future of the West Bank worked out now as well. Sharon's plan has not involved those steps. "We do not support the plan that exists, and we will try to introduce those three conditions," Peres said in an hourlong interview in his Tel Aviv office.

JERUSALEM - Twice in the past year, Shimon Peres - former Israeli prime minister, former defense and foreign minister, former head of the left-of-center Labor Party - seemed to be a spent force, cast aside as a visionary out of step with Israeli reality. Last summer, Israel's parliament rejected him as a candidate for president in favor of a relative unknown, Moshe Katsav. In December, the Labor Party refused to back him as a candidate for prime minister. Then a left-wing party did the same.

FROM THE hate-filled babble of Israel and Palestine's deadly conflict last week two voices were raised pleading for sanity, for peace. One was Israeli. The other was Palestinian. They spoke and acted unofficially, but many, many of their people want them to succeed. The Israeli was Yossi Beilin. See what he said: "We are saying to the world: 'Don't believe those who tell you that our conflict is unsolvable. Don't try to help us manage the conflict. Help us to end it,'" The Palestinian was Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Until Saturday night, the government of Israel was dominated by the last two political descendants of Israel's first leader, David Ben-Gurion. With the assassination of Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin, the number has been reduced to one -- Shimon Peres.Mr. Peres has become prime minister of Israel for the second time, but there could be no satisfaction at having returned to that post through national tragedy. Mr. Peres is 72, one year younger than Mr. Rabin and after decades of being rivals, the two men had apparently become full, trusting partners.

THE ELECTION Prime Minister Shimon Peres is expected to call for May 28 will introduce a constitutional innovation in Israel -- a cross between the presidential system and Israel's pure parliamentary tradition. In addition to voting for national party lists and thus creating a proportional vote for the Knesset, or parliament, Israelis will vote for an individual to be prime minister. This is a first.The effect already has been to push quarreling parties into coalitions that more closely resemble our two-party system.

Title: "The New Middle East"Author: Shimon PeresPublisher: Henry HoltLength, price: 224 pages, $25Shimon Peres, Israel's foreign minister, is known as a no-nonsense politician, a self-promoter and a tough diplomatic negotiator. With the publication of "The New Middle East," many will add wild-eyed optimist to the list."The New Middle East" is Mr. Peres' blueprint for the development of the region after the outbreak of peace last August.With a monumental leap of faith, Mr. Peres says the accord (whose implementation now seems to be delayed indefinitely)

JERUSALEM -- The film was grainy, the images distant, but the picture was searing nonetheless.Two Arabs, a man and a woman, sauntered up a busy alleyway somewhere in the West Bank. Casually, they wandered toward two Palestinian men who were lounging beside an automobile. Suddenly the "woman" leaped on one of the Palestinians and dragged him to the ground while a partner pulled out a gun, whipped off an Arab headdress and started shouting at their captive in Hebrew. Then they dragged him away.

PARIS -- The election in Israel was a referendum on the Middle Eastern peace process, but it was also a referendum on Israel's relationship to the United States even though Israeli voters may not have fully appreciated that fact.The United States has sponsored, supported and partially financed the Israel-PLO agreements and the painfully slow and difficult process of mutual accommodation between Israel and the Palestinians which has followed. President Bill Clinton ostentatiously supported re-election of the Labor Party, and of Shimon Peres as prime minister.

So, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt refers to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as "fatso." "This fatso, Sharon: I hear he eats an entire lamb for dinner," Mubarak reportedly said. "How can anybody fall asleep after that?" The remark reportedly was made to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who was visiting Egypt to try to get some positive movement in the wrecked peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. It was leaked to the Israeli press, which published it, and it was picked up by The New York Times.

So, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt refers to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as "fatso." "This fatso, Sharon: I hear he eats an entire lamb for dinner," Mubarak reportedly said. "How can anybody fall asleep after that?" The remark reportedly was made to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who was visiting Egypt to try to get some positive movement in the wrecked peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. It was leaked to the Israeli press, which published it, and it was picked up by The New York Times.

No television news operation has covered the Middle East in this troubled year with as much timeliness or wisdom as PBS' Frontline. Whether it was April's "Battle for the Holy Land," with its daring examination of the Palestinian suicide bombers and those Israeli intelligence operatives trying to stop them, or last month's "Muslims," Frontline has consistently made liars out of those who say television offers neither enterprise nor context when it comes...

JERUSALEM - Twice in the past year, Shimon Peres - former Israeli prime minister, former defense and foreign minister, former head of the left-of-center Labor Party - seemed to be a spent force, cast aside as a visionary out of step with Israeli reality. Last summer, Israel's parliament rejected him as a candidate for president in favor of a relative unknown, Moshe Katsav. In December, the Labor Party refused to back him as a candidate for prime minister. Then a left-wing party did the same.

JERUSALEM - Jews from the former Soviet Union helped topple Yitzhak Shamir in 1992, Shimon Peres in 1996 and Benjamin Netanyahu in 1999. Now, many are preparing to do the same to Ehud Barak on Tuesday. Coming from a nation where they felt officially persecuted, "the Russians," as they're known here, tend to take a dark view of political leaders generally, and in the past three elections have voted to punish incumbents rather than reward. With Barak, they have particular scores to settle.

KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel - Nowhere in Israel was Moshe Katsav's election as Israel's president welcomed with more joy than in this town he calls home. The unexpected victory last week by the relatively little-known Katsav over Shimon Peres - former prime minister, and Nobel peace laureate - is not just the biggest thing that has happened here, Kiryat Malachi residents said. It may also be the biggest thing that has happened to the nation's have-nots - primarily immigrants from Middle Eastern countries and their descendants, who are 40 percent of the Jewish population of Israel, but have long felt locked out of its corridors of power.

PARIS -- The election in Israel was a referendum on the Middle Eastern peace process, but it was also a referendum on Israel's relationship to the United States even though Israeli voters may not have fully appreciated that fact.The United States has sponsored, supported and partially financed the Israel-PLO agreements and the painfully slow and difficult process of mutual accommodation between Israel and the Palestinians which has followed. President Bill Clinton ostentatiously supported re-election of the Labor Party, and of Shimon Peres as prime minister.

JERUSALEM -- Israelis go to the polls today to pick a leader who vows to continue the peace process or one who promises to take a harder line in relations with Arabs.Public opinion polls show the slightest of leads for Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, who became prime minister in November after an Israeli opposed to the peace process assassinated Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin.But Peres' 3 percentage point advantage is within the statistical margin of error, and Likud bloc challenger Benjamin Netanyahu was buoyed by his aggressive showing in Sunday night's televised debate.

No television news operation has covered the Middle East in this troubled year with as much timeliness or wisdom as PBS' Frontline. Whether it was April's "Battle for the Holy Land," with its daring examination of the Palestinian suicide bombers and those Israeli intelligence operatives trying to stop them, or last month's "Muslims," Frontline has consistently made liars out of those who say television offers neither enterprise nor context when it comes...

JERUSALEM -- Israelis go to the polls today to pick a leader who vows to continue the peace process or one who promises to take a harder line in relations with Arabs.Public opinion polls show the slightest of leads for Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, who became prime minister in November after an Israeli opposed to the peace process assassinated Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin.But Peres' 3 percentage point advantage is within the statistical margin of error, and Likud bloc challenger Benjamin Netanyahu was buoyed by his aggressive showing in Sunday night's televised debate.

JERUSALEM -- It was the day before the Israeli election in 1988. Shimon Peres of the Labor Party was tied in the polls with Yitzhak Shamir of the Likud bloc. In Jericho, a public bus slowed because of rocks in the road. Suddenly, several homemade petrol bombs crashed through the windows, setting the bus afire.Rahel Weiss refused to leave the inferno without her three young children. All perished, along with a young soldier who tried to save them. Shimon Peres lost the election the next day.Peres, again running in a close campaign for prime minister, blames the Jericho bus attack for his loss in 1988.