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A-List Celebration for Israeli President's 90th Birthday
(New York Times) Jodi Rudoren and Isabel Kershner - At a gala in honor of Israeli President Shimon Peres, the world's oldest leader who turns 90 in August, there were former statesmen (Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev), celebrities (Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone), scholars and scions (five Nobel laureates and authors of 1,412 books, all with a collective net worth topping $24 billion, according to organizers), gathered Tuesday at Jerusalem's convention center to fete Mr. Peres, whose public life has paralleled that of the modern State of Israel. "We, in Britain, have our queen, and you have your Shimon," declared former British prime minister and Middle East envoy Tony Blair. Clinton cracked that Peres was "the last living Israeli who knew King David." A protege of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, after helping establish early Jewish settlements in the heart of the West Bank, Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the Oslo accords with the Palestinians.