Revealed: Peres' secret Jordan talks disguises
To mark Purim, President Peres publishes photos of himself in disguise from time he was involved in peace talks with Jordan.
Peres published the photos to mark the holiday of Purim, often referred to as the 'Jewish Halloween.'
Purim is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jews of Persia from a massacre planned against them and it is custom for children of all ages to dress up in celebration of the holiday.
In a post to his Facebook page, Peres wrote "Purim is a great time dress up, but not the only time. This is the disguise I wore in the mid-seventies when I would go to my meetings with King Hussein of Jordan before signing the peace agreements."
According to the nonagenarian president, though the images are not from a Purim costume party, they do capture the holiday spirit.
"Rhe beauty of Purim is that it brings out the creativity in us all in celebration of a holiday that is all about fun! Share your costumes with me here, I am sure they are much better than mine. Happy Purim and Shabbat Shalom."
Israel-Jordan peace
The Israel-Jordan peace treaty was signed on October 26, 1994 and officially regulated the diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Amman.
In mid-1994, after years of covert peace negotiations, then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin relayed a message to King Hussein of Jordan, saying that in the post-Oslo Accords climate, if the Hashemite Kingdom procrastinated any longer on a peace treaty with Israel, it may find itself devoid of any significant role in regional politics.
King Hussein then conferred on the matter with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Syrian counterpart. The former encouraged him to strike peace with Israel and the latter sanctioned the talks, but recommended Jordan holds off on any treaty. US President Bill Clinton, however, pressured the king to negotiate a peace agreement, offering to erase Jordan's debts to the United States in return.
The summer of 1994 saw Israeli and Jordanian negotiation teams hold open peace talks, which culminated in the July 25 signing of the Washington Declaration on the White House lawn.
