Ariel sharons biography

Immediately after the elections, he merged Shlomtzion with the Likud and became Minister of Agriculture. When Sharon joined Begin's government, he had relatively little political experience. During this period, Sharon supported the Gush Emunim settlements movement and was viewed as the patron of the settlers' movement. He used his position to encourage the establishment of a network of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories to prevent the possibility of Palestinian Arabs ' return to these territories.

After the elections, Begin rewarded Sharon for his important contribution to Likud's narrow win, by appointing him Minister of Defense. Under Sharon, Israel continued to build upon the unprecedented coordination between the Israel Defense Forces and the South African Defence Forcewith Israeli and South African generals giving each other unfettered access to each other's battlefields and military tactics, and Israel sharing with South Africa highly classified information about its missions, such as Operation Operawhich had previously only been reserved for the United States.

Although this attempted assassination was in fact perpetrated by the Abu Nidal Organizationpossibly with Syrian or Iraqi involvement, [ 58 ] [ 59 ] the Israeli government justified the invasion by citing terrorist attacks by the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO in Israel, the occupied territories, and the Jordanian and Lebanese border in addition to 20 attacks on Israeli interests abroad.

In a three-day massacre between 16 and 18 September, between [ 62 ] [ 63 ] and 3, civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiitesin the Sabra neighborhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp were killed by the Phalanges — Lebanese Maronite Christian militias. The Phalange militia went into the camps to clear out PLO fighters while Israeli forces surrounded the camps, [ 67 ] blocking camp exits and providing logistical support.

Ariel sharons biography: Ariel Sharon was an Israeli

The killings led some to label Sharon "the Butcher of Beirut". Robert Maroun Hatem, Hobeika's bodyguard, stated in his book From Israel to Damascus that Phalangist commander Elie Hobeika ordered the massacre of civilians in defiance of Israeli instructions to behave like a "dignified" army. Hobeika subsequently joined the Syrian occupation government and lived as a prosperous businessman under Syrian protection; further massacres in Sabra and Shatilla occurred with Syrian support in The massacre followed intense Israeli bombings of Beirut that had seen heavy civilian casualties, testing Israel's relationship with the United States in the process.

AfterPeace Now protesters rallied in Tel Aviv to ariel sharons biography an ariel sharons biography government inquiry into the massacres, the official Israeli government investigation into the massacre at Sabra and Shatila, the Kahan Commissionwas conducted. Prime Minister Begin was also found responsible for not exercising greater involvement and awareness in the matter of introducing the Phalangists into the camps.

The commission also concluded that Sharon bore personal responsibility [ 67 ] "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge [and] not taking appropriate measures to prevent bloodshed". It said Sharon's negligence in protecting the civilian population of Beirut, which had come under Israeli control, amounted to a dereliction of duty of the minister.

We have found In our opinion, it is fitting that the Minister of Defense draw the appropriate personal conclusions arising out of the defects revealed with regard to the manner in which he discharged the duties of his office—and if necessary, that the Prime Minister consider whether he should exercise his authority Sharon initially refused to resign as defense minister, and Begin refused to fire him.

After a grenade was thrown into a dispersing crowd at an Israeli Peace Now march, killing Emil Grunzweig and injuring 10 others, a compromise was reached: Sharon agreed to forfeit the post of defense minister but stayed in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio. Sharon's resignation as defense minister is listed as one of the important events of the Tenth Knesset.

In its 21 February issue, Time published an article implying that Sharon was directly responsible for the massacres. Although the jury concluded that the Time article included false allegations, they found that the magazine had not acted with actual malice and so was not guilty of libel. On 18 Junerelatives of the victims of the Sabra massacre began proceedings in Belgium to have Sharon indicted on alleged war crimes charges.

Prior to his assassination, he had "specifically stated that he did not plan to identify Sharon as being responsible for Sabra and Shatila. I have repeated that at every opportunity, not for journalists and not for popular consumption, but because I have never believed differently or thought differently, from my childhood on. I know that we are both inhabitants of the land, and although the state is Jewish, that does not mean that Arabs should not be full citizens in every sense of the word.

After his dismissal from the Defense Ministry post, Sharon remained in successive governments as a minister without portfolio —Minister for Trade and Industry —and Minister of Housing Construction — In the Knesset, he was member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee — and chairman of the committee overseeing Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union.

During this period he was a rival to then prime minister Yitzhak Shamirbut failed in various bids to replace him as chairman of Likud. Their rivalry reached a head in Februarywhen Sharon grabbed the microphone from Shamir, who was addressing the Likud central committee, and famously exclaimed: "Who's for wiping out terrorism? Sharon unsuccessfully challenged Shamir in the Herut leadership election and the Likud leadership election.

Upon the election of the Barak Labor government, Sharon became the interim leader of the Likud party and subsequently won the September Likud leadership election. He said prior to the current Yugoslav campaign against Kosovo Albanians, Serbians were the targets of attacks in the Kosovo province. We are against aggressive actions. We are against hurting innocent people.

I hope that the sides will return to the negotiating table as soon as possible. On 28 SeptemberSharon and an escort of over 1, Israeli police officers visited the Temple Mount complex, site of the Dome of the Rock and Qibli Mosquethe holiest place in the world to Jews and the third holiest site in Islam. Sharon declared that the complex would remain under perpetual Israeli control.

Palestinian commentators accused Sharon of purposely inflaming emotions with the event to provoke a violent response and obstruct success of delicate ongoing peace talks. On the following day, a large number of Palestinian demonstrators and an Israeli police contingent confronted each other at the site. According to the U. State Department"Palestinians held large demonstrations and threw stones at police in the vicinity of the Western Wall.

Police used rubber-coated metal bullets and live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators, killing 4 persons and injuring about Sharon's visit, a few months before his election as Prime Minister, came after archeologists claimed that extensive building operations at the site were destroying priceless antiquities. They also often quote statements by Palestinian Authority officials, particularly Imad Falouji, the P.

Communications Minister, who admitted months after Sharon's visit that the violence had been planned in July, far in advance of Sharon's visit, stating the intifada "was carefully planned since the return of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from Camp David negotiations rejecting the U. But it was poorly timed and the provocative effect should have been foreseen; indeed, it was foreseen by those who urged that the visit be prohibited.

More significant were the events that followed: The decision of the Israeli police on 29 September to use lethal means against the Palestinian demonstrators.

Ariel sharons biography: The first in-depth, comprehensive biography of

Accordingly, we have no basis on which to conclude that there was a deliberate plan by the PA [Palestinian Authority] to initiate a campaign of violence at the first opportunity; or to conclude that there was a deliberate plan by the GOI [Government of Israel] to respond with lethal force. After the collapse of Barak's government, Sharon was elected Prime Minister on 6 Februarydefeating Barak 62 percent to 38 percent.

In his first act as prime minister, Sharon invited the Labor Party to join in a coalition with Likud. The election of the more pro-Russian Sharon, as well as the more pro-Israel Vladimir Putinled to an improvement in Israel—Russia relations. In SeptemberSharon became the first prime minister of Israel to visit India, saying that Israel regarded India as one of the most important countries in the world.

Some analysts speculated on the development of a three-way military axis of New Delhi, Washington, D. On 20 JulySharon called on French Jews to emigrate from France to Israel immediately, in light of an increase in antisemitism in France 94 antisemitic assaults were reported in the first six months ofcompared to 47 in France has the third-largest Jewish population in the world aboutpeople.

Sharon observed that an "unfettered anti-Semitism" reigned in France. The French government responded by describing his comments as "unacceptable", as did the French representative Jewish organization CRIFwhich denied Sharon's claim of intense anti-Semitism in French society. An Israeli spokesperson later claimed that Sharon had been misunderstood.

France then postponed a visit by Sharon. Upon his visit, both Sharon and French President Jacques Chirac were described as showing a willingness to put the issue behind them. In SeptemberSharon stated for the first time that Palestinians should have the right to establish their own land west of the Jordan River. He embarked on a course of unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Stripwhile maintaining control of its coastline and airspace.

Sharon's plan was welcomed by both the Palestinian Authority and Israel's left wing as a step towards a final peace settlement. However, it was greeted with opposition from within his own Likud party and from other right wing Israelis, on national security, military, and religious grounds. On 1 DecemberSharon dismissed five ministers from the Shinui party for voting against the government's budget.

In JanuarySharon formed a national unity government that included representatives of Likud, Labor, and Meimad and Degel HaTorah as "out-of-government" supporters without any seats in the government United Torah Judaism parties usually reject having ministerial offices as a policy. Between 16 and 30 AugustSharon controversially expelled 9, Jewish settlers from 21 settlements in Gaza and four settlements in the northern West Bank.

Once it became clear that the evictions were definitely going ahead, a group of conservative Rabbis, led by Yosef Dayanplaced an ancient curse on Sharon known as the Pulsa diNuracalling on the Angel of Death to intervene and kill him. After Israeli ariels sharons biography bulldozed every settlement structure except for several former synagogues, Israeli soldiers formally left Gaza on 11 September and closed the border fence at Kissufim.

While his decision to withdraw from Gaza sparked bitter protests from members of the Likud party and the settler movement, opinion polls showed that it was a popular move among most of the Israeli electorate, with more than 80 percent of Israelis backing the plans. The move was initiated within the central committee of the governing Likud party by Sharon's main rival, Benjamin Netanyahuwho had left the cabinet to protest Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza.

The measure was an attempt by Netanyahu to call an early primary in November to choose the party's leader. On 21 NovemberSharon resigned as head of Likud, and dissolved parliament to form a new centrist party called Kadima "Forward". November polls indicated that Sharon was likely to be returned to the prime ministership. On 20 DecemberSharon's longtime rival Netanyahu was elected his successor as leader of Likud.

Likud, along with the Labor Partywere Kadima ' s chief rivals in the March elections. Sharon's stroke occurred a few months before he had been expected to win a new election and was widely interpreted as planning on "clearing Israel out of most of the West Bank", in a series of unilateral withdrawals. During the latter part of his career, Sharon was investigated for alleged involvement in a number of financial scandals, in particular, the Greek island affair and irregularities of fundraising during the election campaign.

In the Greek island affair, Sharon was accused of promising during his term as Foreign Minister to help Israeli businessman David Appel in his development project on a Greek island in exchange for large consultancy payments to Sharon's son Gilad. The charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence. In the election fundraising scandal, Sharon was not charged with any wrongdoing, but his son Omria Knesset member at the time, was charged and sentenced in to nine months in prison.

To avoid a potential conflict of interest in relation to these investigations, Sharon was not involved in the confirmation of the appointment of a new attorney general, Menahem Mazuzin Another suspect in the case was Robert Nowikovsky, an Austrian involved in Russian state-owned company Gazprom 's ariel sharons biography activities in Europe.

Gilad Sharon was brought into the campaign to make the wilderness bloom in Russia by Getex, a large Russian-based exporter of seeds peas, millet, wheat from Eastern Europe. Getex also has ties with Israeli firms involved in exporting wheat from Ukraine, for example. The company owns farms in Eastern Europe and is considered large and prominent in its field.

Shortly afterwards, Sharon had a stroke. Sharon had been obese since the s, and also had suspected chronic high blood pressure and high cholesterol — at cm 5 ft 7 in tall, he was reputed to weigh kg lb. He would often joke about his love of food and expansive girth. Numerous attempts by doctors, friends, and staff to impose a balanced diet on Sharon were unsuccessful.

Sharon was hospitalized on 18 Decemberfollowing a minor ischemic stroke. During his hospital stay, doctors discovered a heart defect requiring surgery and ordered bed rest pending a cardiac catheterization scheduled for 5 January Instead, Sharon immediately returned to work and had a hemorrhagic stroke on 4 January. He was rushed to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

After two surgeries lasting 7 and 14 hours, doctors stopped the bleeding in Sharon's brain, but were unable to prevent him from entering into a coma. Hadassah Hospital Director Shlomo Mor-Yosef declined to respond to comments that the combination of CAA and blood thinners after Sharon's December stroke might have caused his more serious subsequent stroke.

Ehud Olmert became Acting Prime Minister the night of Sharon's second stroke, while Sharon officially remained in office.

Ariel sharons biography: Ariel Sharon was an

Knesset elections followed in March, with Olmert and Sharon's Kadima party winning a plurality. Sharon underwent a series of subsequent surgeries related to his state. In Mayhe was transferred to a long-term care facility in Sheba Medical Center. In July of that year, he was briefly taken to the hospital's intensive care unit to be treated for bacteria in his bloodbefore returning to the long-term care facility on 6 November Sharon would remain at Sheba Medical Center until his death.

His body lay in state in the Knesset Plaza from 12 January until the official ceremony, followed by a funeral held at the family's ranch in the Negev Desert. Sharon was buried beside his wife, Lily. Sharon was married twice, to two sisters, Margalit and Lily Zimmerman, who were from Romania. Sharon met Margalit in when she was 16, while she was tending a vegetable field, and married her inshortly after becoming a military instructor.

Margalit was a supervisory psychiatric nurse. Margalit died in a car accident in May and Gur died in Octoberaged 11, after a friend accidentally shot him while the two children were playing with a rifle at the Sharon family home. They had two sons, Omri and Gilad, and six grandchildren. Following the fall of the Soviet Union and the waves of immigration from Russiahe initiated and carried out a program to absorb the immigrants throughout the country, including the construction ofapartments.

InAriel Sharon was appointed Minister of National Infrastructure and was involved in fostering ariel sharons biography ventures with JordanEgypt and the Palestinians. He also served as Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Bedouin advancement. InAriel Sharon was appointed Foreign Minister and headed the permanent status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

While serving as Foreign Minister, Sharon met with U. In Septemberhe was elected Chairman of the Likud. Sharon did not attempt to enter any mosques and his minute visit was conducted during normal hours when the area is open to tourists. Palestinian youths — eventually numbering around 1, — shouted slogans to inflame the situation. Some 1, Israeli police were present at the scene to forestall violence.

Senator George Mitchell was established to determine the causes of the violence and to make recommendations for calming the situation. He presented his government to the Knesset on March 7, After calling early elections to the 16th Knessetwhich were held on January 28,Ariel Sharon was charged by the president with the task of ariel sharons biography a government and presented his new government to the Knesset on February 27, 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. Ariel Sharon was once again in the vanguard, in charge of a parachute brigade which captured the strategically-crucial Mitla Pass.

This bloody battle was condemned even by the army's Chief of Staff, Moshe Dayan, as unnecessarily brutal. After a spell studying military theory at the British Army's Staff College at Camberley, the newly-promoted Colonel Sharon returned to Israel where, for three years, he ran the army's infantry school. Paul Adams looks back on the life and legacy of Ariel Sharon.

He was back in action in the war, commanding an armoured division when Israel's armed forces launched a pre-emptive strike on its Arab neighbours. He recaptured the Mitla Pass and the route to the Suez Canal, cementing a reputation as a brilliant strategist. His troops however were accused of shooting their Egyptian prisoners but Sharon denied any ariel sharons biography of these alleged atrocities.

Frustrated in his ambition to become chief of staff, Sharon resigned from the Israeli army in June to pursue a career in public life. But his promising political career - he formed the Likud party shortly after leaving the army - was put on hold when he was recalled to active service following Egypt and Syria's surprise attack on Israel in October Once again in charge of an armoured division, he spearheaded Israel's counter-attack, crashing through the Egyptian lines to reach, and cross, the Suez Canal again before being ordered by his superiors to advance no further.

Israel's failure, as he saw it, to finish the job by destroying Egypt's armed forces, was a huge mistake. He called it "an undecided war". His army career over, Sharon now devoted his life to politics. December saw him elected to Israel's parliament, the Knesset, as a Likud member. During the mids he served as defence adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin before being appointed minister of agriculture by Rabin's successor, Menachem Begin, in He greatly expanded the ministry's remit, dealing with rural matters but also developing a plan for permanent Jewish settlements in the territories occupied by Israel in He opposed the Camp David peace accord thrashed out by Begin and Presidents Carter and Sadat, believing that the guidelines on future Palestinian autonomy were too vague.

But he remained, and prospered, in the Israeli government. Promoted to defence minister, Ariel Sharon was still to face the most controversial moment of his career. Within days, Israeli armour and artillery were besieging Lebanon's capital, Beirut. During the peace negotiations with Egypt, Sharon persuaded Menachem Begin to agree to remove the settlements in Sinai in order to obtain peace with Egypt.

One of his priorities was to pursue agricultural cooperation with Egypt, but his major priority was expansion of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza, often circumventing legal channels to found and support new settlements. In Ariel Sharon was appointed Defense Minister. He was the architect of the Lebanon War. However, the war was very unpopular in Israel and abroad because of needless loss of life in operations such as the assault on the Beaufort, and the disastrous massacre of at least Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Christian militia, similar to the massacre conducted by these militia in Tel al-Zaatar in under Syrian auspices.

Sharon was indicted by the Kahan commission for failing to foresee the possibility of a massacre and failing to intervene after the massacre was underway. InSharon resigned as Defense Minister after a government commission found him indirectly responsible for the September massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese Christians.

The war in Lebanon and the Qibieh and Sabra and Shatila massacres gave Sharon the reputation of a hated super-hawk in much of the Arab world. Sharon remained in the government as a minister without portfolio until He served as Minister of Industry and Trade from In this capacity, he concluded the Free Trade Agreement with the U.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union and the waves of immigration from Russia, Sharon initiated and carried out a program to absorb the immigrants. This included the construction ofapartments in a relatively short period. He also purchased a great many trailers "caravans" for temporary housing. His remarkable achievement was marred by the purchase of the trailers.

These poorly constructed units became the subject of controversy and bitterness. He 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 all these posts, Sharon found ways to support settlement activities in the West Bank and Gaza.

Ariel sharons biography: Ariel Sharon was an

Sharon was opposed to the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians and sought ways to undermine them. InAriel Sharon was appointed Foreign Minister and headed the permanent status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. He participated in the Wye River negotiations. While serving as Foreign Minister, Sharon met with U. He created and advanced 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.

At the same time, he sought to accelerate the building of settlements in the West Bank. In Septemberhe was elected Chairman of the Likud. His visit triggered or served as the excuse for a wave of violence that put an end, in practical terms, to the Oslo peace process and brought about the fall of his rival, Ehud Barak.