JERUSALEM: Israel beefed up security for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral near the Gaza border and warned the enclave’s Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which US Vice President Joe Biden will attend.
Sharon died at the age of 85 on Saturday after eight years in a coma caused by a stroke. A memorial service will be held today in parliament in Jerusalem and an afternoon funeral near the Sharon family farm some 10 km from Gaza. The United States was among 18 countries to send delegations to the state ceremony for Sharon in Jerusalem. The White House said Biden would also travel to the burial at Sycamore Farm’s Poppy Hill, in the southern Negev desert. An Israeli security source said Israel had ‘passed the message’ to Gazan authorities to prevent any rocket fire during the funeral. Gaza is governed by Hamas Islamists who fought several times with Israel over the past few years. There was no immediate response from the Hamas government or other armed Palestinian factions. (Reuters)
