Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, hailed as a military hero at home and loathed in the Arab world as a war criminal, was today laid to rest at his family ranch in southern Israel after a state funeral.
Israel honoured Sharon with a three-part state funeral, beginning in the Knesset (Parliament) plaza and ending with his burial at his Sycamore Ranch, the family home in the Negev.
Sharon, who died on Saturday at the age of 85 after eight years in a coma following a severe stroke at the height of his power in 2006, was buried next to his wife Lily in a ceremony that attracted tens of thousands of mourners from across the political spectrum.
Security was on high alert for the funeral given its close proximity to the Gaza Strip ruled by Islamist Hamas.
The Knesset ceremony was attended by dignitaries from around the world, including US Vice President Joe Biden, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Czech Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Russian Duma Chair Sergey Naryshkin.
President Shimon Peres eulogised Sharon as a "friend, leader and general."
"Our great leader, rest in peace. The land from whence you came will embrace you in its great and warm arms of the history of our people," he said as Sharon's flag-draped coffin stood on a black marble plinth.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an opponent of Sharon's withdrawal of all troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, hailed Sharon as "one of the greatest generals that the Jewish people and the Israel Defense Forces had ever known."
"Israel's independence was dependent on a generation of Jewish fighters that renewed our heritage of Jewish heroism in the land of Israel, and Sharon played a central role in building this heritage," he said.
Biden, wearing a black Jewish skullcap, in his tribute at the Knesset, said, "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."
Biden said he had known Sharon for more than 30 years, and that as a young senator, upon being invited in to Sharon's office, it did not take him long to understand why the general had earned the nickname of "bulldozer".
Blair remembered Sharon as "passionate" about his country and a "giant in this land."
Following the Knesset ceremony, a military convoy took Sharon's coffin to Sycamore Ranch. The convoy stopped in Latrun, where the general who fought in almost all of Israel's wars received a special salute by IDF's General Staff.
Following the ceremony in Latrun, which was closed to the public, the funeral procession headed to Anemone Hill, where Sharon was laid to rest beside his late wife, Lily.
