Ariel Sharon memorial: World leaders bid farewell to `the bulldozer`

The memorial service for the military hero of Israel Ariel Sharon is being held at Knesset – the country`s Parliament building, with more than a dozen of foreign delegates in attendance.

Zee Media Bureau Jerusalem: The memorial service for the military hero of Israel Ariel Sharon was held at Knesset – the country`s Parliament building, with more than a dozen of foreign delegates in attendance. Those who attended the memorial were US Vice-President Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ex-UK PM Tony Blair, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Czech PM Jiri Rusnok. Israeli President Shimon Peres was the first one to pay tribute to Sharon, hailing him as a "living military legend" who had "borne the weight of the security of our people".

"He defended this land like a lion and he taught its children to swing a scythe. He was a military legend in his lifetime and then turned his gaze to the day Israel would dwell in safety, when our children would return to our borders and peace would grace the Promised Land." Honouring the warrior-statesman, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called him as the greatest commander the country has ever had, adding his "unique contribution to the security of the state is engraved in our historical writings". "Your memory will be part of this nation forever," he added. US Vice President Joe Biden in his eulogy called Sharon an "indomitable bulldozer” saying that his main mission was the security of his people. "He was indomitable...But like all historic leaders, all real leaders, he had a north star that guided him. A north star from which he never, in my observation, never deviated. His north star was the survival of the state of Israel and the Jewish people..," said Biden. Also, choosing the occasion to assure Israel of US assistance, Biden said, "As long as there is a United States of America, you are not alone." Using a string of warm adjectives for Sharon, ex-British PM described Sharon as "warm-hearted, humorous, charming and passionate" at the same time also calling him bold and "bold, unorthodox and unyielding". Sharon was "a giant of this land" who will "take his place in the history of Israel with pride", said Blair.. Sharon`s memorial service will be followed by a state funeral later today, when he would be buried next to his second wife Lily Sharon at a site close to his family`s Sycamore Ranch in the southern Negev desert. Sharon died at the age of 85 after eight years of being comatose.