Abbas attendance at Peres's funeral reminder of need for peace

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's attendance at the funeral for Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres was a reminder of the "unfinished business of peace" in the Middle East.

In a 20-minute eulogy in honour of the former Israeli president and prime minister, who died on Wednesday aged 93, Obama said Peres had always strived for a resolution of Israeli-Palestinian conflict that treated both sides equally.

"Even in the face of terrorist attacks, even after repeated disappointments at the negotiation table, he insisted that as human beings, Palestinians must be seen as equal in dignity to Jews and must therefore be equal in self-determination," he said.