Amir Peretz was born in 1952 in Boujad Morocco and immigrated

to Israel in 1956. He attended the Sha'ar HaNegev School and a

high school in Sderot. He was discharged from the army with the

rank of captain following a severe injury.

Between 1983 and1988, Peretz was head of the Sderot Council.

Between 1995 and 2006, he served as Chairman of the Histadrut

labor federation. He filled a variety of positions, including Chair

of the Lobby for the Negev, Member of the Council for Higher

Education and Chairman of the Council of Youth Movements in

Israel.

Peretz was first elected to the 12th Knesset on behalf of the

(Ma'arach) Alignment - Israel Labor Party. He was member of the

Finance Committee, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,

the State Control Committee, the Labor and Welfare Committee,

the Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse and the

Committee for the Second Authority for Television and Radio.

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In the 13th Knesset, Peretz was elected with the Israel Labor Party and chaired the Labor and Welfare Committee, the Joint Committee on the National Health Insurance Bill, member of the Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse and member of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

In the 14th Knesset, Peretz was elected with the Israel Labor Party, and was member of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Peretz was elected to the 15th Knesset with the Am Ehad Party – a party he founded with several MKs who resigned from the Labor Party. In this Knesset, Peretz was member of the House Committee, the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, the Special Committee for Foreign Workers, the Special Legislative Committee for Not Renewing the Emergency Situation, the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on the Trafficking of Women and the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on Social Disparity in Israel.

In the 16th Knesset, Peretz was elected with Am Ehad party, which merged in January 2005 with the Labor Party. In this term, Peretz chaired the Am Ehad parliamentary group and was a member of the House Committee and the Subcommittee for the Commissioner of Future Generations.

Peretz was elected to the 17th Knesset on behalf of the Labor-Meimad parliamentary group. He was elected to chair the Labor Party in November 2005 in the 31st government he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister until June 2007.

Peretz was elected to the 18th Knesset on behalf of the Israel Labor Party, and was a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the Economic Affairs Committee and the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. He also chaired the Lobby for Promoting the Two-State Solution and Separation between Israel and the Palestinians.

Peretz was elected to the 19th Knesset on behalf of the Hatnua party headed by Tzipi Livni. In the 33rd government, Peretz served as Minister of the Environment, until November 2014. He then served as member on the Finance Committee and as an alternate member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He was also a member of the Lobby for Students and Higher Education.

Peretz was elected to the 20th Knesset on behalf of the Zionist Union parliamentary group, founded by Labor Party chairman Isaac Herzog and Hatnua chairperson Tzipi Livni. He is chairing the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's Subcommittee for the Readiness of the Home Front, and is a member of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. He also chairs the Lobby for the Status of Workers in Israel, and is a member of the Lobby for the Negev, the Lobby for Distributive Justice, the Lobby for Virtual Space and Social Networks, the Lobby for the Fortification of Rule of Law and other lobbies.
Peretz heads the Israel–Austria Parliamentary Friendship Group. In February 2015, he returned to the Labor Party.

Peretz was elected to the 21th Knesset on behalf of to the Labor Party headed by Avi Gabbay. Towards the elections to the 22th Knesset, Peretz won the primaries and became head to the Labor Party. Then joined forces with Orly Levy and merged to the Labor Party with Gesher.

Amir Peretz lives in Sderot. He is married and the father of four.