ISRAEL: Shimon Peres: Hawk in the Wings

One goal of Henry Kissinger's recent Middle East trip, the Secretary allegedly told newsmen, was "to rescue Rabin from Peres." That may not have been exactly a joke. Israel's soft-spoken but highly articulate Defense Minister Shimon Peres, 51, the second most important man in the Israeli Cabinet, has emerged as his country's leading hawk on the crucial question of how to negotiate with the Arabs. He is thus a man that Premier Yitzhak Rabin (not to mention Kissinger) must reckon with. Peres almost defeated Rabin for the premiership last April, and is...

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