Israel paid homage to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the first of two funeral services being held on Monday for a man celebrated as a war hero at home but seen by many in the Arab world as a war criminal.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the somber ceremony in front of the Israeli parliament, Sharon's coffin draped in Israel's blue and white flag, bathed in winter sunshine.
"We are accompanying to his final resting place today, a soldier, an exceptional soldier, a commander who knew how to win," said Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Sharon, 85, died on Saturday after spending the last eight years of his life motionless in a hospital bed, pitched into a coma by a stroke and far from the public gaze.
His death has reopened debate into his legacy, with foes denouncing his ruthless conduct in military operations while friends praised him as a strategic genius who had stunned the world in 2005 by pulling Israeli troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip - a Palestinian territory in the south.
"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, using Sharon's nickname.
There was no direct mention of some of the controversies that have clung to Sharon's name through the years, although in his eulogy, Blair said a man widely known at home as "the bulldozer" had left "considerable debris in his wake".
Biden referred simply to his "mistakes", saying: "History will judge that he also lived in complex times, in a very complex neighborhood."
The Israeli foreign ministry said dignitaries had come from 21 countries, mainly in Europe, but did not list any delegations from the Middle East, Africa or Latin America.
After the memorial service at parliament, Sharon's body was loaded into a military van for the drive to the family's farm in southern Israel, some 10 km (6 miles) from Gaza, for burial.
(Reuters)
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