Former US president Bill Clinton remembered Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres, who died Wednesday, as a "genius with a big heart" who worked passionately for Middle East peace and reconciliation.

"I'll never forget how happy he was 23 years ago when he signed the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn, heralding a more hopeful era in Israeli-Palestinian relations," said Clinton, who was in office in 1993 when he oversaw the signing of the Oslo Accords that envisioned an independent Palestinian state.