ISRAEL: Israelis, including the nurse who treated former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in hospital, mourn the death of their former leader.

Record ID: 397965

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israelis, including the nurse who treated former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in hospital, mourn the death of their former leader.
  • Date: 11th January 2014
  • Summary: RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL (JANUARY 11, 2014) (REUTERS) AMBULANCE BELIEVED TO BE TRANSPORTING THE BODY OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON, PARKED OUTSIDE HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAWYER YORAM RABED, FRIEND ARIEL SHARON, SAYING: "(According to Israeli law) a prime minister should be buried within 36 hours, usually in (Jerusalem's) Herzl Mountain. In his case it will probabl
  • Embargoed: 26th January 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAC47JFNYBG64D2BCS2DHHJV17R
  • Story Text: Israeli citizens mourned the death of Ariel Sharon on Saturday (January 11) after the former Israeli general and prime minister who was in a coma died in hospital.
    Sharon's son Gilad announced the death at the hospital where his father had been treated and family friends were quick to offer their thoughts.
    Yoram Rabed, Sharon's friend and attorney, told reporters in the lobby of the Chaim Sheba Medical Center that Sharon an official state and military ceremony would likely be held for Sharon within 36 hours.
    "A prime minister should be buried within 36 hours, usually in (Jerusalem's) Herzl Mountain. In his case it will probably be in the (Sycamore) Ranch. Since he was a general he is entitled for an army funeral so I believe it will be an army funeral together with a formal funeral," said Rabed.
    Marina Lifshitz, a nurse who treated Sharon, praised the former prime minister as "hero" and shared a personal a tale from his hospital bedside.
    "One of the things that characterised Sharon's room was many photographs of family members. I took a photo of (Sharon's late wife) Lily and showed it to him and suddenly I saw how a tear was coming down from his eye. This is really something hard to forget," Lifshitz said.
    In the streets of Jerusalem, residents also paid tribute to Sharon.
    "He was an extraordinary person, we loved him very much," said Rivka, a resident of Jerusalem.
    "He spent his life defending Israel, he spend his life winning for us and his only crime used to have been better than his enemies, at war," added fellow resident Yoram.
    Ministers in Israel's right-wing government, and the political opposition, mourned a tough and wily leader who left big footprints on the region through military invasion, Jewish settlement building on captured land and a shock, unilateral decision to pull Israeli troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005.
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