1. Jewish Virtual Library（http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org）
Ariel Sharon (1928 - 2014)
Ariel "Arik" Sharon was an Israeli statesman, former Prime Minister and retired Major-General who served in the IDF for more than 25 years.
Sharon (born February 26, 1928; died January 11, 2014) was born at Kfar Malal in Pre-State Israel. He joined the Haganah at the age of 14 in 1942 and during the 1948 Israeli 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.
Between 1958 and 1962, Sharon served as Infantry Brigade Commander and then Infantry School Commander, and then 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.
In response to his medical predicament, U.S. 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 were then turned over to Ehud Olmert, who held a cabinet meeting on January 5, 2006, to signal the transfer of power.
From January 2006, Sharon remained hospitalized and in a vegetative state. He passed away on January 11, 2014, with his family by his bedside.
Ariel Sharon had been present at, or involved in, practically 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 survived by his two sons, Omri and Gilad.
2. Tablet (http://www.tabletmag.com)
Sharon Supporters Flock to Knesset To Mourn
Israelis of all ages pay their final respects to the late prime minister, 13 January 2014
by Daniella Cheslow
In Jerusalem Sunday, Israelis assembled at the Knesset plaza to pay their last respects to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who died Saturday at age 85. An Israeli flag was draped over Sharon’s coffin, and two military chaplains whispered prayers for hours, a way of keeping the body company before its burial.
With a military career that spanned three decades, Sharon holds a warm place in the hearts of many former soldiers. Abe Dorevitch served in the Sinai field hospital in the 1973 Yom Kippur war. He said it was a brutal posting, with maimed and dead Israeli and Egyptian soldiers filling up the stretchers. So, when Sharon famously marched across the Suez Canal, wearing a bandage around his injured head, it was a moment of relief.
“That uplifted so many soldiers,” Dorevitch said. “So, I’ve come to pay my respects to a great man.”
Silvan Shalom, currently a minister in Netanyahu’s government, served as Ariel Sharon’s deputy. He walked on the paved plaza wearing a Knesset-issued skullcap. Besides being an accomplished soldier, Shalom said, Sharon was a political battering ram and a stubborn man who never once agreed to shake Yasser Arafat’s hand.
“When he moved to politics he was the one who had his own ideas,” Shalom said of Sharon. “Prime ministers didn’t always like it, but still, he was a real leader who many admired, and I had privilege to serve as his deputy. He always believed he was right.”
President Shimon Peres laid a wreath at Sharon’s coffin. On Monday, Peres eulogized Sharon as “the shoulder on whom Israel’s security rested.”
“Arik was a man of the land,” Peres said. “He loved the smell; he cultivated the hills, he sowed and he reaped. He defended this land like a lion and he taught its children to swing a scythe. He was a military legend in his lifetime and then turned his gaze to the day Israel would dwell in safety.”
At the Knesset Sunday, well-wishers lit large white candles spread out on the ground. Groups of high school children walked by, along followed by weathered generals, former and current settlers, and yeshiva students.
Twenty-four-year-old Aharon Tiferet said he learned about Sharon through a biography.
“After I read most of it, I saw how much interesting this man was, how great a warrior he was, and how dangerous his career was to protect Israel and to protect our lives,” he said.
Of course, Sharon’s legacy in Israel is far from monolithic. His war achievements were many; so were his casualties. In 1983 he was held responsible for the massacre of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatilla in Lebanon and sacked from the government. As prime minister during the Second Intifada, Sharon commanded a crushing re-invasion of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Sharon’s greatest political about-face came in 2005, when he withdrew 21 Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip. Known as the disengagement, the move was a traumatic event for the settlers of the region, who clung to their homes as Israeli soldiers dragged them away and bulldozed the buildings. Schoolteacher Sigal Reuveni said it was a challenging time.
“It was the right thing to do,” Reuveni said. “But maybe the way he did it, without preparation, was difficult for the settlers.”
Haya Ben Yair, a high-tech worker, saw the disengagement differently. She took a bus from a suburb of Tel Aviv to say goodbye to Sharon.
“Ariel Sharon was a leader who said something and did it,” Ben Yair said. “He said peace and we need to withdraw, and he went for it even though it was hard. Bibi―it’s been eight years and I don’t see any result in the future.”
Sharon was buried Monday on his farm in the Negev desert. He is survived by his sons Omri and Gilad.
3. Algemeiner（http://www.algemeiner.com）
Danny Danon: Ariel Sharon’s Complicated Legacy, 14 January 2014
by Danny Danon / JNS.org
Ariel Sharon's funeral.
JNS.org - The State of Israel said its final goodbye to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this week. While I vehemently disagreed with the decisions that Sharon made towards the end of his career, I will forever respect the daring and innovative military leader who spared no effort in defending his people.
Starting with his brave fight to end the siege on Jerusalem in 1948, Sharon served as a model of courageous and daring thinking that still serves as the model for today’s Israeli army. He would often tell me how that battle at Latrun, in which he was badly wounded, taught him that we could only count on ourselves when it comes to defending our homeland. Unit 101 that he founded in the 1950s instilled a new sense of brazen fighting spirit in the Israel Defense Forces and, most importantly, made it clear to our enemies that we will never accept terrorism against our citizens.
Sharon was a strong believer in the vitality of the Jewish people. He was especially supportive of aliyah, and it was thanks to his vision that Israel successfully absorbed a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union. These new Israeli citizens that Sharon welcomed with open arms, suitable housing, and a path to meaningful employment became the economic engine of today’s “Start-up Nation.”
Arik always felt that it was important to instill values amongst the younger generation of the Jewish people. That is why he would often attend the annual 11 of Adar Betar ceremony at Tel Hai. He loved to speak with the young activists from around the world about Jewish and Zionist values. I served as chair of Betar at the time and we would travel together to the far northern Galilee. Arik loved to point out the communities along the way. He would always remind me that Jewish homes and fields are more important than tanks when it comes to strengthening our hold on this land.
The building of the Jewish communities of Judaea, Samaria, and Gaza was another great project of Sharon’s that I wholeheartedly supported. I fully believed then, as I do today, that these brave pioneers are fulfilling our biblical, historical, and strategically important rights to build in every part of our ancient homeland. I would often accompany him on his visits to these communities. No one knew those mountains and valleys better than Arik, yet he would insist on closely examining detailed maps of the territory. For him, to examine in detail the geography and topography of the land was the same as reading a letter from a beloved friend.
Arik and I eventually became so close that he was the guest of honor at a ceremony that we held after the birth of my son. To my great sorrow, Sharon later abandoned the values that I hold so dear and made the grave mistake of destroying the Jewish communities of Gush Katif and northern Gaza. At this point, Sharon left the Likud Party that he had helped found, and I personally ended my affiliation with him.
While I cannot forget the travesty forced on the Jewish communities of Gaza, the contributions that Ariel Sharon made towards the safety and security of the country he loved will forever be honored.
・Danny Danon is Deputy Defense Minister of the State of Israel and the author of “Israel: The Will to Prevail.”
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