Defence minister attends Ariel Sharon funeral service
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
13.01.2014 13:08
Defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak represented Poland at the memorial service to former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, who died after eight years in a coma on Saturday.
Dignitaries and Forgeign leaders with the coffin during the funeral ceremony of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem, Israel, 13 January 2014. Sharon, who had been in a coma after suffering a stroke and brain haemorrhage on 04 January 2006 while campaigning for re-election, died on 11 January 2014 at the age of 85. He will be buried later in the day at his farm in southern Israel: photo - EPA/AMOS BEN GERSHOM
Poland was among 18 countries who sent representatives to the 90-minute state ceremony in Jerusalem on Monday before Sharon, 85 years-old when he died, is buried alongside his wife Lily in the family estate on the edge of the Negev Desert, about 10 km from the border with the Gaza Strip.
Mourners included US vice-president Joe Biden and former British prime minister and current 'Middle East peace envoy' Tony Blair.
"You never rested in service of your people, when defending your land and making it flourish," said Israeli president Shimon Peres during the televised service.
Poland's foreign ministry called Sharon "an important but controversial" prime minister after he died at the weekend. (pg)