Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon is one of the most prominent yet controversial leaders of Israel. The story of his life is very much the story of the State of Israel. He has lived most of it.

Sharon was elected as the Prime Minister of Israel at the age of 73, in 2001.

He was the son of Vera and Samuel Sharon who migrated from Georgia in 1922. Ariel Sharon was born in 1928 in Kfar Malal in the central coastal valley, 10 miles from Jaffa. His original family name was Scheinerman, but was later changed to Sharon. His childhood was different from the kind a child is expected to have.

At the age of 14 he became an instructor in the paramilitary youth battalion, the Gadna and later formally joined the Haganah, the mainstream underground Zionist para-military force in Palestine.

In 1948, the beginning of the first Arab-Israeli war, Sharon was promoted to platoon commander of the AIexandroni Brigade (an Israel Defense Forces brigade). In 1949 he was recruited as a military intelligence officer in Israel's armed forces and was assigned the Northern Command, where he gathered information on Palestinian guerrillas in Syria and Lebanon. In 1952 he was recruited to lead the commando raids in Jordanian-held West Bank territory in retaliation for Palestinian attacks against Israeli settlements in the Jerusalem area. In 1953, he founded and led the special commando "Unit 101", which carried out retaliatory operations against Palestinian fedayeen (guerrillas) infiltrating Israel from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In 1967 he participated in the Six Day War as commander of an armoured division. He resigned from the army in 1972, but was recalled to active military service in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He led the crossing of the Suez Canal which helped secure an Israeli victory in the war and eventual peace with Egypt.

By the end of 1973 Sharon was elected to the Knesset (parliament) for the Likud bloc and served as Member of the Knesset within the Likud bloc for almost one year. This bloc consisted of the Gahal, the Independent Liberals and Hamerkaz Hahofshi, the Free Centre parties. But in December 1974 he resigned and served as a special security adviser to Labour Party Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In 1976 Sharon formed a new party, Shlomtzion (Peace of Zion), but later Sharon joined the Likud bloc again.

He served as minister of agriculture and chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Settlement from 1977 to 81. He used his position to encourage the establishment of a dense network of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories (the Palastinian territories). During this period he doubled the number of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Also, in the early 90s while serving as the minister for construction and housing, Sharon encouraged development of settlements (construction of about 1 lakh apartments) in the West Bank (and other Palastinian territories), particularly to house Soviet immigrants (after the fall of Soviet Union).

He was the defence minister from 1981 to 83 and masterminded Israel's invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. An official Commission of Inquiry (the Kahan Commission) found him "indirectly responsible" for the massacres carried out in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila between 16^th and 18^th September 1982 killing more than 2000 people. The commission called for his resignation. He resigned from his post in 1983 but remained minister without portfolio until 1984.

In 1999, after the resignation of Netanyahu as the leader of the Likud bloc, Sharon was made the bloc's interim chairman and was elected Prime Minister in the 2001 elections. During his term, Israel is known to have the highest number of terrorism victims ever. He was re-elected in 2003.

In 2004, Sharon formulated a plan that would ensure a higher degree of security for Israelis, and improve the lives of Palestinians. He decided that Israel should act unilaterally to improve its security situation. This plan was known as the Disengagement Plan (please read). It called for complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers in the Gaza Strip, as well as the dismantlement of all settlements in the area, including four settlements in West Bank. Between August 16 and August 30, 2005, Israel evacuated more than 8,500 Israeli settlers and, on September 11, 2005, Israeli soldiers left Gaza, but the plan largely was not very successful. The implementation of the disengagement plan was viewed as a success by most of the Israeli public, but it sparked bitter protests from ministers of Sharon's Likud Party, causing the party to split. Sharon resigned from the party to form a new centrist party, “Kadima,” or “Forward” on November 21, 2005.

He suffered a minor stroke in December 2005 and a serious one in January 2006 which resulted in a massive brain haemorrhage causing extensive cerebral bleeding and is in hospital till date.

Sharon has been present at or involved in nearly every seminal moment in modern Israel's history. From pre-state Israel and Israel's wars, to politics and the disengagement plan, Sharon has played a highly significant role in shaping Israel's future.