Ariel Sharon
Ariel
(“Arik”) Sharon
was born at Kfar
Malal on February 27, 1928. He served in
the IDF
for more than 25
years, retiring with the rank of Major-General.
He holds an LL.B in Law from the
Hebrew
University of Jerusalem (1962).
He joined the Haganah
at the age of 14
in 1942. During the 1948 War of
Independence, he commanded an infantry
company in the Alexandroni Brigade. In 1953, he
founded and led the “101” special
commando unit which carried out retaliatory
operations against Palestinian
fedayeen.
Sharon was appointed commander of a
Paratroop
Corps in 1956 and fought in
the Sinai
Campaign. In 1957, he attended the
Camberley Staff College in Great Britain.
During 1958-62, Sharon served as Infantry
Brigade Commander and then Infantry School
Commander, and attended Law School at
Tel Aviv
University. He was appointed Head of
the Northern Command Staff in 1964 and Head of
the Army Training Department in 1966. He
participated in the 1967 Six
Day War as commander of an armored
division. In 1969 he was appointed Head of the
Southern Command Staff.
Sharon resigned from the army in June 1972, but
was recalled to active military service in the
1973 Yom Kippur
War to
command an armored division. He led the
crossing of the Suez Canal which helped secure
an Israeli victory in the war and
eventual peace with
Egypt.
Ariel Sharon was elected to the
Knesset
in December 1973,
but resigned a year later, serving as Security
Adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin (1975). He was elected to
the Knesset
in 1977 on the
Shlomzion ticket. Following the elections, he
joined the Herut
party and was
appointed Minister of Agriculture in
Menachem
Begin's first government (1977-81).
One of his priorities was to pursue
agricultural cooperation with
Egypt.
In 1981, Ariel Sharon was appointed Defense
Minister, serving in this post during
the Lebanon
War,
which brought about the destruction of
the PLO
terrorist
infrastructure in Lebanon.
In the realm of international relations, he was
instrumental in renewing diplomatic relations
with the African nations which had broken off
ties with Israel during the Yom Kippur
War.
In November 1981, he brought about the
first strategic
cooperation agreement with the U.S.
and widened
defense ties between Israel and many nations.
He also helped bring thousands of Jews
from Ethiopia
through
Sudan.
In 1983, Sharon resigned as Defense Minister
after a government
commission found him indirectly
responsible for the September 1982 massacre of
Palestinians at the Sabra and
Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese
Phalangists.
Sharon remained in the government as a minister
without portfolio and then served as Minister
of Industry and Trade from 1984-90. In this
capacity, he concluded the Free Trade
Agreement with the U.S. in 1985.
From 1990-1992, he served as Minister of
Construction and Housing and Chairman of the
Ministerial Committee on Immigration and
Absorption. Following the fall of the Soviet
Union and the waves of immigration
from Russia, he initiated and carried
out a program to absorb the immigrants
throughout the country, including the
construction of 144,000 apartments.
From 1992-1996, he served as a member of
the Knesset
Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee.
In 1996, Ariel Sharon was appointed Minister of
National Infrastructure and was involved in
fostering joint ventures with
Jordan,
Egypt
and the
Palestinians.
He also served as Chairman of the Ministerial
Committee for Bedouin
advancement.
In 1998, Ariel Sharon was appointed
Foreign Minister
and headed
the permanent status
negotiations with the
Palestinian
Authority.
While serving as Foreign Minister, Sharon met
with U.S., European, Palestinian and Arab
leaders to advance the peace process. He worked
mostly to create and advance projects such as
the Flagship Water Project funded by the
international community to find a long-term
solution to the region's water crisis
and a basis to
peaceful relations between Israel, Jordan,
the Palestinians and other Middle Eastern
countries.
Following the election of Ehud Barak
as Prime
Minister in May 1999, Ariel Sharon was
called upon to become interim
Likud
party leader
following the resignation of
Benjamin
Netanyahu. In September 1999, he
was elected Chairman of the
Likud. He also served as a
member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee in the Knesset.
On September 28, 2000, Sharon made a visit to
the Temple Mount
in
Jerusalem, the holiest place
in Judaism
to emphasize
Israel's claim to sovereignty over the
Temple Mount. Palestinians maintained that
Sharon came with “thousands of Israeli
soldiers” and defiled a Muslim holy
place, when in fact, Israel's Internal
Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami
permitted
Sharon to visit the Temple Mount only after
calling Palestinian security chief
Jabril Rajoub
and receiving
his assurance that if Sharon did not enter
the mosques, no problems would arise. Sharon
did not attempt to enter any mosques and his
34 minute visit was conducted during normal
hours when the area is open to tourists.
Palestinian youths — eventually
numbering around 1,500 — shouted
slogans in an attempt to inflame the
situation. Some 1,500 Israeli police were
present at the scene to forestall violence.
Following Sharon's Temple Mount visit, the
Palestinians, under the direction of
Yasser
Arafat, launched an
unprecendented wave of violence and terror
against Israelis, dubbed the
“al-Aksa
Intifada” by the
Palestinians for its association with
the al-Aksa Mosque
located on the
Temple Mount. Palestinian leaders claim that
Sharon's visit sparked the violence, but on
November 7, 2000, an investigatory committee
led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell
was established to determine the causes of
the violence and to make recommendations for
calming the situation. The Mitchell
Report issued in April 30, 2001,
concluded “the Sharon visit did not
cuase the “al-Aksa intifada.”
In a special election
held February
6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime
Minister. He presented his government to
the Knesset
on March 7,
2001. After calling early elections to
the 16th
Knesset, which were held on
January 28, 2003, Ariel Sharon was charged
by the president with the task of forming a
government and presented his new government
to the Knesset on February 27, 2003.
After several years of bloodshed, terror, and
stalled peace talks with the Palestinians,
Sharon devised a bold plan that would ensure a higher
degree of security for Israelis, and improve
the lives of Palestinians. While
Palestinian terrorism
against
Israelis was at its peak, and going
virtually unchecked by Arafat and other
Palestinian leaders, Sharon decided that
Israel should act unilaterally to improve
its security situation and reduce bloodshed.
This plan, known as the disengagement
plan, called for the 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 northen
Samaria. Between August 16 and
August 30, 2005, Israel safely evacuated
more than 8,500 Israeli settlers and, on
September 11, 2005, Israeli soldiers left
Gaza, ending Israel's 38-year presence in
the area.
The implementation of the disengagement plan
was viewed as a success by most of the Israeli
public, although it sparked bitter protests
from ministers of Sharon's Likud Party, causing
a party schism. Facing bitter infighting in
Likud, Sharon formally resigned from the party
to form a new centrist
party, “Kadima,” or
“Forward” on November 21, 2005.
Following the Likud Party spilt, Sharon
outlined the goals of his new party. One, he
said, is to closely follow the United
States-backed road map
plan for peace
with the Palestinians. Sharon declared that
there will be no more unilateral withdrawals
from the West Bank, and insisted that
Palestinian terrorist groups be disarmed and
dismantled. The Kadima party platform calls
for “maximum security and assuring
that Israel be a Jewish national home and
that another state that shall arise be
demilitarized, with terrorists
disarmed.”
In mid-December, 2005, Sharon spent two days in
a hospital after suffering a minor stroke,
which doctors said caused no irreparable brain
damage. However, on January 4, 2006, Sharon was
rushed to the hospital following another, more
serious stroke. Sharon suffered a massive brain
hemorrhage, which caused extensive cerebral
bleeding.
President George W. Bush
said that
Sharon was “a man of courage and
peace,” and that “on behalf of
all Americans, we send our best wishes and
hopes to the prime minister and his
family.”
Prime Minsterial duties have been turned over
to Ehud
Olmert, who held a cabinet
meeting on January 5, 2006, to signal the
transfer of power. Olmert will act as Prime
Minister until elections, which are
scheduled to take place on March 28, 2006.
Ariel 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 of survival, to politics and the
disengagement plan, Sharon has played a highly
significant role in shaping Israel's future.
Although once considered a hardline politician
who was the “father of the settlement
movement,” and a brilliant leader in the
wartime, Sharon devoted his last years in
politics to pursuing peace with security for
Israel and its neighbors.
Sharon is widowed and has two sons, Omri and
Gilad.