Ariel Sharon laid to rest in state funeral

Former prime minister Ariel Sharon was buried yesterday at a state ceremony at his beloved Sycamore ranch, the family home in the south of Israel.

His coffin, draped in the Israeli flag, was driven in a military vehicle from the Knesset parliament in Jerusalem, where it had lain in state.

The funeral cortege stopped on the way for a brief military ceremony at Latrun, west of Jerusalem, where Sharon, as a young platoon commander, was severely wounded in the 1948 war of independence.

Mr Sharon (85) died in hospital on Saturday after being in a coma since 2006 when he suffered a severe stroke, ending his term as prime minister a few months after he had pulled Israel out of the Gaza Strip.

US vice-president Joe Biden said he had known Mr Sharon for more than 30 years and that when visiting his office as a young senator he soon realised why the general had earned the nickname of ‘bulldozer’.

“The security of his people was always Arik’s unwavering mission – a non-breakable commitment to the future of Jews, whether 30 years or 300 years from now,” he said. “Like all historic leaders, he had a north star that guided him. The north star which he never – in my observation – deviated from. His north star was the survival of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.”

Shortly after the funeral, two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, six kilometers away, exploded close by in an open area, causing no injuries or damage. In response, Israeli aircraft attacked a number of targets in Gaza.

Israel had feared rocket attacks from Gaza, and with 20 foreign dignitaries attending the funeral, had taken extra security precautions.

A message had been passed to Hamas rulers in Gaza that Israel would not tolerate any militant rocket fire and an Iron Dome anti-missile battery was placed in the vicinity.

Quartet peace envoy Tony Blair highlighted Mr Sharon’s passion for the wellbeing of the state of Israel.

“The same iron determination he took to the field of war he took to the chamber of diplomacy. When that meant fighting, he fought: when that meant making peace, he sought peace.”

The atmosphere at the funeral was reserved, but there was no great outpouring of emotion. The fact that Mr Sharon had been in a coma for the last eight years, with no chance of recovery, had prepared Israelis for his eventual departure.

Mr Sharon’s death leaves president Shimon Peres (90) the last representative of Israel’s founding fathers still in public office. Mr Peres eulogised Mr Sharon as a “friend, leader and general”. Sharon’s life, he said, was interwoven in the history of the state. “We’re departing from you today. You were a shoulder that the nation’s security could rest upon on. Arik was a man of the land, and he protected this land like a lion, and he became a military legend in his lifetime.

“You made decisions and you came out victorious,” he said.

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who became Mr Sharon’s political foe after the Gaza disengagement, praised him as “one of the greatest generals that the Jewish people and the Israel Defense Forces had ever known”.

Mr Sharon’s sons, Omri and Gilad, each gave an emotional eulogy. “Look around, Ariel. Look around and see the people cherishing your memory and bowing their heads,” said Omri. Concluding the service, Gilad declared: “Beloved father – you have returned home.

In January 2006, when Mr Sharon suffered a stroke, polls showed he would have won the next election by a majority. Ever since, there has been speculation as to whether he would have followed the Gaza disengagement with moves to withdraw from the West Bank.

Yesterday the Ha'aretz newspaper quoted from cables from the US embassy in Tel Aviv to the state department, leaked to WikiLeaks, to show that even before the Gaza withdrawal, he was planning his next big diplomatic move.

The documents show he planned to cede parts of the West Bank to the Palestinians, along with some Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem.