Biden on Ariel Sharon: He was indomitable

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was a lion in his defense of the state of Israel and the Jewish people, international dignitaries recalled Monday. In a tight-knit country such as Israel, the death of Sharon "feels like a death in the family," Vice President Joe Biden said during Sharon's funeral service outside the Israeli Knesset building. "Many of my fellow Americans, some of whom are here, feel that same sense of loss." Biden told the audience he had known Sharon for 30 years and said he understood how Sharon acquired the nickname, "Bulldozer." "He was indomitable," Biden said. Sharon, 85, died Saturday after eight years in a coma caused by a severe stroke in 2006 from which he never recovered. He is widely seen as one of the most influential figures in Israeli history. As with all historic leaders, Sharon was a complex man who generated strong opinions, said Biden, one of multiple foreign dignitaries who attended Sharon's funeral. "[Like] all historic leaders, all real leaders, he had a north star that guided him," Biden said. "A north star from which he never in my observation, never deviated. His north star was the survival of the state of Israel, and the Jewish people wherever they resided." Sharon "possessed such incredible physical courage, and I would add political courage," Biden said, and he "never, never, never deviated" from his concern with the security of Israel. Biden said Sharon and Israeli President Shimon Peres "are part of one of the most remarkable founding generations in the history of not this nation, but of any nation." "Historians will look back and say but for the rare and unique men and women at that moment, but for that, it's hard to see how we'd be standing here on this day," Biden said. Taking a quote from the Bible's Book of Genesis about a man knowing the land, Biden said Sharon "tilled it as a farmer, he fought for it as a soldier. He knew ... every inch of the land." In closing, Biden said the world would "never know what the ultimate arc of Arik [a nickname] Sharon's life would have been had he been physically able to pursue his goal" of peace. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Sharon one of the greatest military men of the Jewish people and the country's military who was a member of the founding generation of the state, the Jerusalem Post reported. "The establishment of Israel depended on a generation of brave fighters to rebuild a legacy of Jewish bravery that seemed to have disappeared," Netanyahu said. "Ariel Sharon had a central role in rebuilding this legacy." President Shimon Peres said Sharon's presence was embedded throughout Israel. "Your footprints are imprinted on every hill and in every valley. You cultivated the land with your scythe and defended it with your sword," Peres said. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sharon was a man of war and of peace, the Post said. "The state he fought for from the age of 14 had to be protected. When that meant fighting he fought. When that meant peace he sought peace, Blair said. While in Israel, Biden's office said the vice president will meet with Netanyahu and Peres. After the public service, the motorcade traveled to Sharon's ranch, Havat Shikmim, near Sderot, for a private burial. Sharon -- a former major general, as well as defense minister and foreign minister -- will be buried next to his second wife, Lily, Israeli officials said. Biden led the official U.S. delegation, which also includes U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro; Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and former Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, the White House said. Also traveling with the delegation are Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan and State Department special Middle East peace envoy Maher Bitar. Biden's meetings with Netanyahu and Peres follow U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's sometimes-strained Middle East shuttle diplomacy seeking to revitalize talks between Israelis and Palestinians toward reaching a two-state solution that envisages an independent Palestine alongside Israel.