Peres ‘Ashamed’ at Palestinians’ Plight

The architect of Israel’s peace accords with the Palestinians, Shimon Peres, said he is “ashamed as a Jew . . . as an Israeli” at the hardships Palestinians face four years after interim peace deals. The former prime minister was speaking before the inauguration in Tel Aviv of the Peres Center for Peace, a private institute he has established to promote peace. Peres, ousted in May 1996 elections, said he had seen TV film of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip rummaging through Jewish settlers’ garbage. “It made me feel very bad,” he said. “It is not necessary.”