Israel: Shimon Peres laid to rest in Jerusalem

Former Israeli President and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres was laid to rest at the Mount Herzl National Cemetery in Jerusalem, on Friday.
Among those at the official funeral ceremony at the Mount Herzl National Cemetery were US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Former US President Bill Clinton and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Ahead of the ceremony, Shimon Peres' coffin was placed in the Israeli Parliament's (The Knesset) assembly grounds in Jerusalem, on Thursday, for a public wake.
Thousands of mourners visited the site, including children from the Peres Peace Centre. The coffin was guarded by the Parliament Guard with military Rabbis reading psalm verses.
Peres, born Szymon Perski, died at the age of 93 early Wednesday morning, after being hospitalised for a stroke on Tuesday, September 13.
Born in Poland in 1923, Szymon Perski, who later changed his name to Shimon Peres, immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1932. He was a two-time president and also served as prime minister. In 1994, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (along with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organisation Chairman Yasser Arafat) for his role in negotiating the Oslo Accords.
Peres' image among the Arab population, however, is more controversial, where he was known as the 'Butcher of Qana,' specifically for his role in the killing of 106 civilians, half of them children, sheltering in a UN camp during an Israeli attack against Lebanon in 1996.
Upon his retirement, Peres was the oldest head of state in the world. He remained politically and publicly active up until his death, with his particular focus on his non-governmental organisation, 'Peres Centre for Peace,' which promotes closer ties between Israelis and Palestinians. He is survived by three children, a daughter and two sons. His wife, Sonya, died in 2011.