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By Etgar Lefkovits

JERUSALEM (September 25) - Hundreds of Israelis converged upon Jerusalem's Kikar Safra yesterday afternoon to pay their last respects to national poet Yehuda Amichai, before his burial in the evening in the capital's Sanhedria Cemetery.

"We are burying one of the greatest poets of the Hebrew language, whose words give meaning to our existence in this land," said Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the funeral, which was also attended by President Moshe Katsav, Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, and a handful of MKs.

"During his life we acceded to his request not to be called 'Israel's national poet,' but now we may call him by the title that he deserves," Barak said.

Barak said that people love Amichai's poetry, because his words give them faith that human relationships are possible even between people who do not agree with one other.

"Reading his poems, and of his desire for a true peace, it seemed that one of the accomplishments of his poetry was that he prepared us for reconciliation with our neighbors," said Barak.

Noting that Amichai's beloved Jerusalem remains at the center of the conflict that is keeping a peace agreement from being signed, Barak said that it does not have to be that way.

"In Amichai's poetry, Jerusalem was a city where it was possible to have a reconciliation, where the impossible became possible," he said.

Speaker after speaker praised the humility, simplicity, and brilliance of Israel's world-renowned poet.

"Though we never met Yehuda, not even once, like many others I feel a close proximity toward you, and I feel that we lost you at a time that we dearly need you," said National Security Adviser Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan, who attended the ceremony in uniform.

Calling Amichai "a poet, a Palmachnik, and a revolutionary humanist," Dayan said that what was unique about Amichai was that "he did not preach, did not call upon all of us to follow in his path, but strengthened each one of us... each individual paving his own way."

"We loved your simple, but piercing words. We loved you because we understood you, because you understood us," said Burg.

Calling him the "chief of staff of the Hebrew language's war of independence," Meretz leader Yossi Sarid credited Amichai's poetry with his successful courtship of his wife.

"Never has such a private, personal poet become a national poet," Sarid said. "His words gave me inspiration, and how many people inspire you?" Sarid asked. "You have died, but your poetry lives on.

"Though Amichai has passed from among us, he has left us many lines, and they are not erased, not forgotten," concluded author Meir Shalev.

AB Yehoshua shares memories of Yehuda Amichai on Jpost Radio