National Post (National Edition)
PERES
A FUNERAL FOR A MAN OR HIS DREAM — IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR PEACE?
From across the ocean and across the Green Line, they came Friday to the mountaintop sanctuary of Mount Herzl to bid farewell to Shimon Peres, marking what one called the “end of the era of giants.” But the question of the moment was whether it was a funeral for a man or for his dream.
Twenty-three years after Peres helped negotiate the Oslo Accords heralding peace between Israelis and Palestinians, President Barack Obama and other leaders from around the world paid homage to his tenacious search for reconciliation. And yet the memorial service made clear how elusive that idea has actually become in this part of the world. The funeral brought together Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, something no mediator has been able to do in recent years, and the two men shook hands and exchanged brief pleasantries. But the encounter went no further and the momentary pause in their war of words seemed unlikely to last beyond the interment.
In his eulogy, Netanyahu welcomed by name many of the foreign figures in attendance without mentioning Abbas. It was left to Obama to acknowledge the Palestinian leader, saying that his “presence here is a gesture and a reminder of the unfinished business of peace.”
For his part, Abbas, in a move perceived by some analysts as a jab at Netanyahu’s government, brought along an adviser, Muhammad al-Madani, who was barred by Israel last summer for “subversive” activities. No Arab ruler, president or prime minister came, although Egypt sent its foreign minister and others sent lower-ranking officials.
Amos Oz, the famed Israeli author and friend of Peres, gave voice in his eulogy to what others were thinking, wondering about the fate of peace in a new era. With Israelis and Palestinians sharing a small piece of the world, he said, the only solution is the creation of a Palestinian state that Peres supported.
“In their heart of hearts, all sides know this simple truth,” Oz said as Netanyahu and Abbas listened. “But where are the leaders with the courage to come forward to make it come to pass? Where are the heirs to Shimon Peres?”
Obama, who has been pressing the two sides to rejuvenate a peace process, made a similar point less dir- ectly. “Shimon never saw his dream of peace fulfilled,” he said. And so, he added, “Now this work is in the hands of Israel’s next generation, in the hands of Israel’s next generation and its friends.”
Peres, who died this week at 93, embodied the history of the Israeli state. A protege of David Ben-Gurion, the founding prime minister, he had a role in most of Israel’s major moments from its independence in 1948. He served as prime minister, foreign minister, defence minister and, until two years ago, president.
A longtime security hawk, he helped build the nation’s military and was instrumental in developing its nuclear program. Critics, especially Palestinians, castigate him for promoting the construction of settlements in territories seized in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 and for launching military operations that led to civilian deaths.
He was remembered Friday mainly for his pursuit of peace that resulted in the Nobel Peace Prize he shared in 1994 with prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
But the peace process ultimately stalled. Obama, who flew overnight to attend the funeral and finished writing his eulogy only as Air Force One landed, offered an especially personal tribute to Peres. This was only the second time in nearly eight years in office that he had travelled overseas for the funeral of a foreign leader, after Nelson Mandela.
The president tried to explain the unlikely friendship that developed between an African-American from Hawaii and a child of the shtetl who grew up to lead Israel. “We shared a love of words and books and history and, perhaps like most politicians, we shared too great a joy in hearing ourselves talk,” Obama said. “But beyond that, I think our friendship was rooted in the fact that I could somehow see myself in his story and maybe he could see himself in mine.”
Netanyahu was emotional, too, choking up as he recalled the death of his brother Yoni, a commando killed in a hostage rescue mission in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976, and the “deeply stirring” eulogy that Peres, then the defence minister, delivered.
While he ousted Peres as prime minister in a 1996 election, Netanyahu said they later became close friends and he spoke lovingly of their fierce arguments over the best way to pursue peace for Israel.
“We went back and forth for hours, flinging arguments at one another,” he said. “He came from the left, I came from the right. I came from the right, and he came back from the left. And in the end, like two worn-out prizefighters, we put down our gloves. I saw in his eyes, and I think he saw in mine, that our principles stemmed from deep-seated beliefs and a commitment to the cause — ensuring Israel’s future.”
The obstacles to peace progress were evident Friday. Netanyahu and Abbas, who have not formally met in six years, shook hands before the service, as they did last year on the sidelines of a climate conference in Paris.
“Long time,” Abbas said as he greeted Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. “Long time.”
“Thank you for coming,” Netanyahu responded. “I appreciate it.”
But both came under fire just for that. Abbas’ decision to come to a cemetery named for the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, angered many Palestinians, who criticized him for honouring an enemy. In Gaza, one militant faction said in a statement that “every drop of blood from Arab and Muslim martyrs will cure Abbas.”
It was a delicate issue on the other side too, as Israeli officials debated overnight whether to seat Abbas in the front row. Ultimately they did, but he had no speaking role. Afterward, Naftali Bennett, a hard-line member of Netanyahu’s cabinet, criticized the prime minister for shaking hands with Abbas, who “is encouraging the murder of Israelis,” as he wrote on Facebook, adding: “Let him stop funerals before attending funerals.”