Israel has paid homage to Ariel Sharon at a memorial service honouring one of its most skilled but controversial leaders, who was hailed internationally for his dedication to the Jewish state.
At an outdoor ceremony on Monday, the burly former general who died on Saturday was eulogised by Israeli leaders and foreign dignitaries for his military prowess, his lifelong defence of Israel's security and his political courage.
But Sharon was also remembered as a "complex" character whose actions could have destructive consequences, following a decades-long career which saw him reviled as a warmonger and hailed as a peacemaker.
He was to be laid to rest in a ceremony at his family's Sycamore Ranch in the southern Negev desert, a few kilometres from the northern border of the Gaza Strip.
"You never rested in service of your people, when defending your land and making it flourish," Israeli President Shimon Peres said, standing in the Knesset plaza, where Sharon's flag-draped coffin stood on a black marble plinth.
"The land from which you came will embrace you in the warm arms of the history of our nation, to which you added an unforgettable chapter," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a bitter opponent of Sharon's withdrawal of all troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, focused on Sharon's "unique contribution" to Israel's security, saying it would be "engraved on the pages of our nation's history".
Taking to the podium wearing a black Jewish skullcap to address the crowd, which included ministers and diplomats from 20 countries, US Vice President Joe Biden remembered Sharon as a "historic leader" whose guiding star was "the survival of the state of Israel and the Jewish people".
"Prime Minister Sharon was a complex man ... (who) lived in a complex time in a complex neighbourhood," said Biden, hailing him for his military courage and his political courage in pushing through Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
Former British premier Tony Blair remembered him as "passionate" about his country but a man who "could leave considerable debris in his wake".
His coffin was taken to a military memorial site in Latrun on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, where Sharon was wounded in the 1948 war of independence.
From there, it was to be driven to Sharon's ranch for a military funeral, where he will be buried next to his second wife, Lily.
Given the burial site's proximity to Gaza and the large numbers of mourners likely to attend the funeral, the police and army beefed up security in the area and around the Hamas-run enclave.
Once known chiefly as a ruthless military leader who fought in all of Israel's major wars, Sharon switched to politics in 1973, championing the development of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
He was long considered a pariah for his personal but "indirect" responsibility in the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by Israel's Lebanese Phalangist allies in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
Later in life, Sharon surprised friends and foes alike by masterminding Israel's withdrawal of 8000 settlers from Gaza, earning him the bitter hatred of his former right-wing nationalist allies.
Although many have never forgiven him, Zeev Hever, a veteran settler leader who spoke at the memorial, hailed the many years Sharon had fought to build up the settlements.
"You taught the Jewish people how to fight and then how to settle," he said, describing him as "the father of the settlement movement".
"Your disengagement from our shared path ... was difficult and painful. The questions remain unanswered, the pain is great, but a deep love covers everything."
