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Israeli President Peres leaves hospital

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-13 17:37

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres smiles as he answers a journalist's question during a news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (not pictured) in Cairo in this July 7, 2009. [Agencies]

JERUSALEM: Israeli President Shimon Peres was discharged from a Tel Aviv hospital on Sunday, a day after fainting on stage during a talk.

The 86-year-old Peres passed out briefly Saturday, then revived on his own a few seconds later. Initially he had resisted hospitalization, but later agreed and was admitted to a medical center for observation and tests.

Spokeswoman Ayelet Frisch blamed Peres' notoriously demanding schedule for the collapse.

The director of the Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Professor Zeev Rotstein, told Israeli media on Sunday that tests showed Peres to be in good health.

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The Israeli president is not known to suffer from any health problems.

Frisch said Peres would meet later Sunday with US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, who is in the region trying to renew stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Peres was elected to Israel's parliament in 1959 and has held a succession of Israel's most senior posts. In 2007, he was elected to the country's ceremonial presidency.

In 1994 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.