Peres family to unveil tombstone, with Netanyahu, Rivlin on hand
At end of 30-day mourning period, former elder statesman to be celebrated Friday as peacemaker, ‘servant’ of his country
Family members and friends of Israel’s recently deceased president and prime minister Shimon Peres will be joined by the country’s leaders Friday for the unveiling of his tombstone at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl national cemetery.
During the morning ceremony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin will recall the man credited with helping to forge Israel’s military prowess and launching the Oslo peace process with the Palestinians.
The unveiling ceremony comes at the conclusion of the traditional 30-day mourning period since the elder statesman’s death on September 28.
At the Peres family’s request, the tombstone bears a passage from the biblical prophet Isaiah about the end of war, as well as a quote from Israel’s first prime minister, and Peres’s early mentor, David Ben-Gurion.
Ben-Gurion’s quote reads, “Israel’s spiritual character and inner strength will in the future be the deciding factor for our security and international standing.”
The quote from the second chapter of Isaiah predicts a future when nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and mankind will not again know war.”
The engraved plaque beside the gravesite reads:
One of the founding fathers of Israel, which he served his entire life. Ninth President of the State of Israel. Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance.
Among those who laid the foundations for Israel’s strategic deterrence and defense capabilities, one of the founders of the reactor in Dimona, and of Israel’s defense industry. Led Israel to become an innovation and technological superpower.
Worked tirelessly to advance peace between Israel and her neighbors and to strengthen tolerance and coexistence within Israeli society.
Graduate of “Ben Shemen” and founder of “Alumot.” Statesman, lover of literature, poetry and art. Nobel Peace Prize laureate. A man of vision and action.
Peres, who held nearly every high office in Israel, died some two weeks after suffering a major stroke.
His funeral at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery drew dozens of world leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama, who led a 33-person delegation of US officials on a six-hour visit to Israel for the ceremony.
AP contributed to this report.
