World bids farewell to peace champion Peres

Nobel laureate and former national leader honored by friends, rivals

World leaders bid farewell to Israeli elder statesman and Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres at his funeral in Jerusalem on Friday, with US President Barack Obama hailing him as a giant of the 20th century.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was among the mourners at the city's Mount Herzl national cemetery and was seated in the front row, reportedly at the request of Peres's family.

Abbas knew Peres well and negotiated with him. In an extremely rare move, he shook hands and spoke briefly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival.

Security forces were on high alert, with roads closed and thousands of officers deployed.

Some 70 countries were represented, with the range of leaders illustrating the respect Peres gained over the years in his transformation from hawk to committed peace advocate.

"In many ways he reminded me of some other giants of the 20th century that I had the honor to meet: men like Nelson Mandela, women like Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth," said Obama, who wore a black Jewish skullcap.

Peres's death on Wednesday at the age of 93 drew tributes from around the world for Israel's last remaining founding father.

An estimated 50,000 people filed past his coffin as it lay in state outside parliament in Jerusalem throughout the day on Thursday.

Former US president Bill Clinton was among those who paid their last respects there, appearing moved as he stood in silence before the coffin.

Clinton had helped usher in the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, which resulted in the Nobel prize for Peres.

He also spoke at the funeral, giving a warm eulogy in which he said Peres's "critics often claimed he was a naive, overly optimistic dreamer. They were only wrong about the naive part."

Netanyahu, in his eulogy, called Peres a "great man of the world."

The two men had been political rivals, and Netanyahu recalled a late-night discussion on Israel's future with Peres in which they discussed security and peace.

"There will be peace, Shimon, dear man, exceptional leader," he said. "I tell you that from the bottom of my heart."

The last time such an event was held in Israel was the 1995 funeral for Yitzhak Rabin, Peres's rival in the Labour party but partner in negotiating the Oslo accords.

In a career spanning seven decades, Peres held nearly every major office, serving twice as prime minister and as president, a mainly ceremonial role, from 2007 to 2014.

He won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for his role in negotiating the Oslo accords, which envisioned an independent Palestinian state. He was also an architect of Israel's nuclear program, with the country now considered the Middle East's sole nuclear-armed nation, though it has never declared it.

While Peres is hailed in the West as a peacemaker, many in the Arab world, including among the Palestinians, regard him a "war criminal".

They have cited his involvement in successive Arab-Israeli wars, the occupation of Palestinian territory and his support for settlement building before his work on Oslo.

Abbas, who signed the Oslo accords along with Peres, however called him a "brave" partner for peace.