Israelis mourn ex-leader Sharon

11 January 2014
Last updated at 21:20 ET

Jeremy Bowen looks back at Ariel Sharon’s political and military career

Israelis are beginning a short period of mourning for ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has died aged 85 of heart failure after eight years in a coma.

The public will pay their respects when his body lies in state on Sunday before a private burial on Monday.

Israeli and world figures have paid tribute to a man who fought in four major wars before taking to the political stage.

But there was little sorrow among Palestinians who saw him as an enemy.

The head of the Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv confirmed Mr Sharon’s death on Saturday afternoon, the Jewish Sabbath, more than a week after it emerged that his health was in decline.

Gilad Sharon, one of his two sons, said outside the hospital: “He has gone. He went when he decided to go.”

Kevin Connolly reports from Jerusalem: ”Palestinians… saw Sharon as an enemy to be hated and feared”

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama spoke of a leader “who dedicated his life to the state of Israel“.

Israel’s President Shimon Peres, a long-time friend and political rival who joined a unity government with Mr Sharon in 2001, said he was “an exceptional man and an exceptional commander who moved his people and loved them and the people loved him”.

Mr Sharon, known as “The Bulldozer”, was a giant of Israel’s military and political scene whose term as prime minister ended abruptly when he had a major stroke that put him in a coma in January 2006.

Months before his stroke, he had guided Israelis through a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, with the declared aim of easing tensions with the Palestinians.

The BBC’s Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen said he had shaped the current state of the West Bank and Israel’s relations with the Palestinians more than any other Israeli politician in recent years.

He fought in Israel’s war of independence in 1948, took part in Israel’s invasion of the Sinai in 1956 and commanded an armoured division in the 1967 Middle East war. In 1973, he led Israel’s counter-attack against Arab armies across the Suez Canal, cutting off Egypt’s 3rd Army.

But after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 he was found to have been presponsible by an Israeli inquiry of failing to prevent the massacre of Palestinians by Christian Phalangist militia in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

His reputation among Palestinians was such that, in the Gaza Strip, sweets were handed out in celebration of his death. One senior official in the Fatah movement said he was a criminal whom Palestinians had wanted to see on trial.

Palestinian political figure Mustafa Barghouti said while no-one should gloat at his death, Mr Sharon had taken “a path of war and aggression” and had left “no good memories with Palestinians”.

Private ceremony

Mr Sharon’s coffin will be placed at a plaza in front of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Sunday to allow the public to pay their respects for six hours, from 12:00 (10:00 GMT) to 18:00 local time.

A ceremony will be held there on Monday morning, which international figures are to attend. US Vice-President Joe Biden will lead a US delegation and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also expected to go.

A few hours later he will be buried in a private ceremony at his farm in the Negev desert. His family visited the farm, the Sycamore ranch, on Saturday afternoon, where his late wife Lily was laid to rest in 2000.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Israel had lost “one of the most significant figures” in its history while French President Francois Hollande said that after a long military career, Mr Sharon had “taken the choice to turn to dialogue with the Palestinians”.

Ex-US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, a former secretary of state, said he “gave his life to Israel” and it was an honour to “work with him, argue with him and watch him always trying to find the right path for his beloved country”.

Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the US under Mr Sharon, said the late prime minister’s decision to pull out of Gaza in 2005 had changed the political landscape and he was prepared to take creative steps towards a solution with the Palestinians.

But Hamas, Gaza’s Islamist militant rulers since 2007, condemned him as a tyrant and said his death marked the “disappearance of a criminal whose hands were covered with Palestinian blood”.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | RFID | Amazon Affiliate
BBC News – Home

Israelis mourn ex-leader Sharon

Many world leaders to mourn Mandela

8 December 2013
Last updated at 13:10 ET

Will Ross reports on the mood of reconciliation at churches in Soweto

Some 60 heads of state or government have announced they will take part in the memorial service or state funeral of Nelson Mandela, South Africa says.

US President Barack Obama, Francois Hollande of France and UK PM David Cameron will be among those attending Tuesday’s memorial at a Soweto stadium.

South Africa’s first black president died on Thursday and the nation has held a day of prayer and reflection.

Mourners in their millions visited places of worship and community halls.

At Soweto’s Regina Mundi Catholic Church, a centre of the anti-apartheid struggle, the priest Sebastian Roussouw said the late leader had been “a light in the darkness”.

“Madiba did not doubt the light. He paved the way for a better future, but he cannot do it alone,” he said, referring to Mr Mandela by his clan name.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Bishop Mosa Sono summed up the mood in this extremely religious nation when he told thousands of worshippers at the Grace Bible Church in Soweto: “Thank God for Madiba.”

An image of Nelson Mandela’s face was displayed on the screen, while his famous “I’m prepared to die” speech was played to the congregation, so numerous that plastic chairs had been set up outside the main hall to accommodate them.

“We are celebrating his life, not mourning his passing,” said Tebeho Mahlope, 34. “He was old, he needed to rest, he has done what he needed to do,” said Pamela Mpanza, 29.

The nearby Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto, known as “the people’s church”, was used by anti-apartheid campaigners as a secure venue to plan their outlawed activities after Mr Mandela was arrested.

Here too, the priest spoke of the light and hope the “Father of the Nation” had brought to South Africa and the world.

• ‘Thank God for ‘Madiba’

Mr Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, was among the congregation at the Bryanston Methodist church in Johannesburg, where President Jacob Zuma urged South Africans not to forget the values he had stood for.

In Cape Town, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said Mr Mandela was a powerful and continuing reminder that individuals have the power to make change happen in the world.

Over the next eight days, a series of events will commemorate the man who steered their country out of white-minority rule.

From Bono to Ban Ki-moon

International leaders, global figures and celebrities will join 95,000 ordinary South Africans at the memorial service at FNB stadium in Soweto, where Nelson Mandela made his final major public appearance during the 2010 football World Cup.

The event is likely to be one of the biggest such gatherings of international dignitaries in recent years. The government said 59 leaders had so far confirmed they would be attending: an indication of the special place Mr Mandela held in people’s hearts across the world, officials say.

Among those on the list are UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, German President Joachim Gauck, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Crown Prince Felipe of Spain.

President Zuma paid tribute to Nelson Mandela: “He believed in caring and he cared for our nation”

Three former US presidents, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, will join President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and India’s Pranab Mukherjee will also be there. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has not yet confirmed whether he will travel.

Leading celebrities in the anti-apartheid movement Peter Gabriel and Bono are also expected to attend as are former international leaders such as Marti Ahtisaari who, along with Mr Mandela, were part of a group known as The Elders, promoting peace and human rights.

Mr Mandela’s body will lie in state in Pretoria on the following three days and he will be given a state funeral on Sunday, 15 December.

A smaller number of international dignitaries including the Prince of Wales will attend the burial in the Eastern Cape village of Qunu, where the late president grew up.

While Tuesday’s memorial service will clearly be a big organisational challenge, the state funeral will be a greater logistical one because of its rural remoteness, BBC correspondent Mike Woodridge reports.

‘Guard of honour’

South Africans have been holding vigils since Mr Mandela died at home at the age of 95, after several months of ill health.

The focal points for public remembrance have so far been Mr Mandela’s house in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton and his old home in Soweto.

Mourners and well wishers there have lit candles and laid thousands of wreaths of flowers.

Mr Mandela’s body will lie in state on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the heart of the South African government in Pretoria.

His body will be taken each morning from the mortuary to the city hall through the streets of Pretoria. Members of the public have been encouraged to line the route and form a “guard of honour”.

Karen Allen in Cape Town: “Many of the congregants… have come together, drawn by what the Dean described as comfort in solidarity”

The family will view the body on Wednesday morning before the public are allowed to file past from 12:00.

The government has also given further details of the state funeral arrangements.

• Tuesday, 10 December is the day for South Africa’s official memorial service at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, and will be addressed by President Zuma with tributes from other heads of state


• The memorial service will be shown on big screens at three “overflow” stadiums – Orlando, Dobsonville and Rand


• Between 11-13 December, “selected international visitors and guests” will be able to view Mr Mandela’s remains at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.


• The public will be able to view the body from 12:00 to 17:30 on Wednesday and from 08:00 to 17:30 on Thursday and Friday


• His body will be transported on Saturday, 14 December, from Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria to the Eastern Cape, with a procession from the airport at Mthatha to his home village of Qunu where a traditional ceremony will be held.


• A national day of reconciliation will take place on 16 December when a statue of Mr Mandela will be unveiled at the Union Buildings in Pretoria


• Some 90 screens will be set up across the country to show all planned national events

Flags at all official buildings are to remain at half mast throughout the period and books of condolence are being circulated across the country and online for people to post tributes, record memories and express their emotions.

A government statement recalled the former president’s own thoughts when asked how he wished to be remembered.

“It would be very egotistical of me to say how I would like to be remembered,” Mr Mandela said.

“I’d leave that entirely to South Africans. I would just like a simple stone on which is written, ‘Mandela’.”

The former South African leader spent 27 years in jail before becoming the country’s first black president in 1994.

He served a single term before stepping down in 1999.

Mr Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president.

What is your reaction to Nelson Mandela’s death? Did you meet him? What are your memories of him? You can share your views with us using the form below.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | RFID | Amazon Affiliate
BBC News – Home

Many world leaders to mourn Mandela

Spain to mourn train crash victims; driver freed pending trial

1 of 4. A Spanish National police officer stands next to wrecked parts of a train at a warehouse in Escravitude, 20 km (12 miles) from Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, July 27, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Miguel Vidal

By Tracy Rucinski

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain | Sun Jul 28, 2013 9:09pm EDT

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (Reuters) – The driver of a Spanish high-speed train that derailed and killed 79 people was released pending trial on charges of reckless homicide, a judge ruled on Sunday night.

Francisco Garzon, 52, had been under arrest since Thursday. He is suspected of driving the train too fast through a tight curve on the outskirts of the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.

Examining Magistrate Luis Alaez formally charged Garzon with “79 counts of homicide and numerous offences of bodily harm, all of them committed through professional recklessness,” the court said in a statement.

In a closed-door hearing before Judge Alaez, Garzon admitted taking the curve too fast, blaming it on a momentary lapse, according to media reports.

Alaez set the following conditions of release: Garzon must check in regularly with the court, surrender his passport and not drive trains.

None of the parties in the case, which include state train operator Renfe, state railway firm Adif and two insurance companies, had asked for Garzon to be jailed pending trial, and he was not seen as a flight risk, the court statement said.

At 8:41 p.m. on Wednesday the eight-carriage, high-speed train slammed into a concrete wall, crumpled, and some of the cars caught fire. The impact was so strong that one of the carriages was thrown several meters high over an embankment.

The death toll from Spain’s worst train disaster in decades rose to 79 after one injured person – a woman from the United States – died on Sunday.

Seventy people remain hospitalized with injuries from the crash, 22 are in critical condition.

Garzon has worked for Renfe for 30 years, 10 as a driver. His father also worked on the rails and he grew up in Renfe-owned housing in the northwestern town of Monforte de Lemos and went to school with other train-workers’ children.

After the accident he was hospitalized with a head injury. On Saturday he was released from the hospital but remained in police custody until he was taken to the hearing at Santiago de Compostela’s main courthouse.

Neither lawyers nor members of Garzon’s family could be reached for comment.

Alaez has been assigned to investigate the case and will also look at whether the train, the tracks or the security system that slows down the trains were at fault.

UP TO THE DRIVER

The Alvia train involved in the accident, one of three types of high-speed train services that run in Spain, received a full maintenance check on the morning of the journey, the head of Renfe said, and security systems were in good shape.

“As far as we know, the train was in perfect condition when it set off on its journey,” Renfe President Julio Gomez-Pomar told newspaper ABC.

The Alvia trains run both on traditional tracks, where drivers must heed warning systems to reduce speed, and on high-speed tracks where a more sophisticated security system will automatically slow down trains that are going too fast.

At the section of the track where the accident happened, it was up to the driver to respond to prompts to slow down.

Gomez-Pomar rejected criticism that the safety system was insufficient, saying the debate “does not make much sense”.

CELEBRATIONS CANCELED

The city of Santiago was meant to be celebrating the yearly festival of St. James on July 25, with thousands of Christian pilgrims arriving after walking the famous Camino de Santiago ancient pilgrimage trail.

A week of concerts and other cultural events were canceled after the train crash on the eve of the festival. On Sunday, black ribbons of mourning hung on the empty stages that had been set up.

Pilgrims, many of them fresh off the trail and carrying backpacks, crammed into a standing-room-only Mass in Santiago’s centuries-old cathedral where they were asked to remember the victims of the accident.

At the cathedral gates, along with flowers and candles commemorating the dead, some people left walking sticks from their journeys and others placed shells, the symbol of St. James and badge of honor for the pilgrims who complete the journey.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who visited the crash site after the tragedy, is due to return on Monday to Santiago, the city where he was born, for an official funeral ceremony for the victims.

Dolores Mato, 57, a shopkeeper who works close to the ancient cathedral, expressed sympathy and grief for the victims and their families, but also for Garzon, who she said had been “crucified” in the media.

(Writing by Elisabeth O’Leary; Editing by Fiona Ortiz, Peter Graff, Sonya Hepinstall and Stacey Joyce)

• Link this


• Share this


• Digg this


• Email


• Reprints

Reuters: Most Read Articles

Spain to mourn train crash victims; driver freed pending trial

Spain to mourn train crash victims; driver freed pending trial

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (Reuters) – Spain was to hold a memorial service on Monday for the 79 people who died in the country’s worst rail disaster in decades, hours after the driver of the train was freed pending trial on charges of reckless homicide.

Reuters: Top News

Spain to mourn train crash victims; driver freed pending trial