World leaders mourn Peres
Israeli, Palestinian leaders shake hands; Obama urges peace.
JERUSALEM — 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?”
Obama, who has been pressing the two sides to rejuvenate the peace process, made a similar point less directly. “Shimon never saw his dream of peace fulfilled,” he said. “Now this work is in the hands of Israel’s next generation, in the hands of Israel’s next generation and its friends.”
The funeral drew delegations from 75 countries, including former President Bill Clinton, President Francois Hollande of France, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, Prince Charles and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron of Britain, and King Felipe VI of Spain.
Peres, who died this week at 93, embodied the history of the Israeli state. A protégé of David Ben-Gurion, the founding prime minister, he had a role in most of Israel’s major moments from its independence in 1948.