Israel mourns
FORMER PRESIDENT and prime minister of Israel Shimon Peres will be buried this morning (Friday) in a state funeral on Mount Herzl.
Mr Peres passed away on Wednesday morning at 3.40am, in Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv, two weeks after suffering a stroke.
Upon confirming his father’s death, Chemi Peres said: “Our father’s legacy has always been to look to tomorrow. We were privileged to be part of his private family, but today we sense that the entire nation of Israel and the global community share this great loss.”
Since the end of his seven-year presidential term in 2014 and until his recent hospitalisation, Mr Peres had kept an active public life, working in the Peres Peace Centre in Jaffa and regularly travelling to give speeches abroad.
His successor, President Reuven Rivlin, paid tribute to him, saying: “I will carry his memory with me, his handshake, his sensible advice which he always gave lovingly, and in particular his spirit of hope which he breathed into this people. The spirit of hope and peace, which was his path and desire.”
PrimeMinisterBenjaminNetanyahu, who first met Mr Peres 40 years ago by the grave of his older brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Yoni Netanyahu, said: “ShimonPeres’snamewillbeimmortalised in the book of revival of the Jewish people as one of the greatest leaders Israel had, one of the founding fathers who established the state of Israel.” Mr Netanyahu added: “Some of the ways in which he strengthened Israel may remain secret.”
Leader of the Zionist Union and Israeli Labour Party, Isaac Herzog, who knew Mr Peres — a friend and political colleague of his father, President Chaim Herzog — from childhood, said: “Shimon was a teacher, a friend and a remarkable statesman who will be remembered as an icon of Israel’s history and whose legacy will continue to play a profound role in Israel’s future.”
Among the dozens of foreign dignitaries and heads of state expected to attend the funeral will be US President Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton, French President Francois Hollande, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (in his first visit to Israel) and Jordan’s King Ab d u l l a h . Representing the UK will be Pr i n c e Charles and f o r m e r prime mini st e r Tony Blair. Foreign Se c r e t a r y Boris Johnson and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry will also be pr e s e n t , as well as Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. Prime Minister Theresa May said Mr Peres was “a visionary and courageous statesman, who worked relentlessly for peace and never lost hope that this would one day be achievable” and that he “epitomised optimism and a belief that by working together we can build a brighter future for generations to come.”
The leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, also eulogised Mr Peres, saying in a tweet that his “role in IsraelPalestine negotiations won a Nobel Peace Prize & should be the spur for a renewed drive for peace and justice”.
Very unusually, Mossad and the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, which very rarely put out public releases, both published announcements following Mr Peres’ death.
Mossad said: “For many years Shimon Peres worked with the Mossad on operations… he made a huge contribution to ensuring Israel’s security”. The IAEC, of which Mr Peres, had been one of the founders when he oversaw the building of the Dimona nuclear reactor and Israel’s at o m i c p r o - gramme, said that he had “ma d e a major c o n - tr i b u - tion to foundi n g Israel’s nuclear po l i c y as a significant pillar in the nation’s security”.
In addition to having served as Israel’s ninth president, Mr Peres also served twice as prime minister and was the only man to have addition- ally held the three most senior cabinet posts — foreign, finance and defence. He was also the longest-serving MK in history, having spent over 47 years in parliament.
Mr Peres will be laid to rest on Mount Herzl between the graves of Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir, two bitter political rivals who were also partners in some of his main achievements.
In the 1980s, Mr Peres faced off against Likud leader Mr Shamir in two general elections, but they were ultimately forced by political arithmetic to sit together in a coalition. They cooperated in withdrawing the IDF from Lebanon and stabilising the hyperinflationary Israeli economy. Mr Rabin and Mr Peres fought each other for the Labour leadership over two decades. However, in 1976 they also took the joint decision to send commandos to rescue the hostages in Entebbe and, as foreign minister, Mr Peres convinced Mr Rabin to go along with the Oslo agreement. Together with Mr Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, they received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
Residents of Shimon Peres’s hometown of Vishneva, in Belarus, gathered outside his childhood home on Wednesday to pay their respects for the biggest international figure ever to emerge from their locality.
“Shimon Peres brought pride to our village through his life and accomplishments, and we felt obliged to pay our respects following his death,” said Oleg Demidchik, 63, of Vishneva. “We are humbled that he is from our town and we will never forget this.”