Israeli president leaves hospital after fainting

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 file photo. Peres collapsed during a ceremony in Tel Aviv on September 12, 2009, but the 86-year-old Nobel peace laureate regained consciousness before being taken to hospital, a presidency spokeswoman said. She said he fainted for only a few moments and had initially told doctors he did not want to be taken for treatment.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 13-- Israeli President Shimon Peres was released on Sunday morning from a Tel Aviv hospital where he spent a night after fainting during an event.

"The president has been released from Sheba Hospital and is on his way back to Jerusalem right now. Everything is fine with him," a spokeswoman at the President's Residence told Xinhua.

Peres will meet with visiting U.S. peace envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell in the afternoon as scheduled, she added.

The 86-year-old political veteran temporarily lost his consciousness on Saturday night when answering questions on stage at a conference with young business executives in Tel Aviv, and came to himself shortly after on his own.

At the insistence of his aides, the president agreed to be taken to hospital for medical tests.


A police vehicle parks outside the Tal Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv, where Israeli President Shimon Peres gets treatment, Sept.12, 2009.

Local daily The Jerusalem Post quoted the president's medical team as estimating that the reason for his collapse was a momentary drop in blood pressure, apparently caused by the high temperature in the conference hall.

His aides indicated that overwork might also play a role.

Upon the president's release, Professor Zeev Rotstein, director of Sheba Hospital, told local media that the test results showed Peres, who is not known to have any health problems, is in good health.

Peres became Israel's ninth president in 2007. Thanks to his efforts for the Middle East peace, the then foreign minister in 1994 shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
(Xinhua)