Here’s a look at the life of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Personal:
Birth date: February 26, 1928
Death date: January 11, 2014
Birth name: Ariel Scheinerman
Birth place: Kfar Malal, Palestine.
Father: Samuil (Shmuel in Hebrew) Scheinerman, an agronomist and artist
Mother: Vyera (Schneeroff) Scheinerman, a medical student before marriage
Marriages: Lili Yehuda (1963 – March 25, 2000, her death); Margalit Yehuda – (March 29, 1953 – May 1962, her death)
Children: with Lili: Omri, 1964 (male); Gilad, 1967 (male); with Margalit: Gur (December 28, 1956 – October 4, 1967, male)
Education: Hebrew University, 1952-1953, 1962; Staff College, Camberley, England, 1957-1958; Tel Aviv University, law degree, 1966
Military: Israeli Defense Service, 1948-1973, 1974-1976
Other Facts:
Nickname was Arik.
The Sharon Plain (also Plain of Sharon) is the region where he grew up.
His second wife, Lili, was the younger sister of his first wife, Margalit.
Sharon opposed Israel’s 1993 signing of a peace accord with the PLO in Washington, D.C.
One thousand security officers provided protection when Sharon visited Temple Mount in the Old City section of Jerusalem in 2000.
The 2001 special election for prime minister had the lowest voter turnout and the largest margin of victory in Israeli history (62.5%).
Timeline:
1945 – Graduates from high school in Tel Aviv. Joins the British Jewish Police and begins covert work for the Haganah.
1947 – Becomes an instructor in the Haganah and teaches the police units that are assigned to protect Kibbutzim around Palestine.
1952 – Is discharged from the army and enrolls at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to study Middle Eastern history. He remains a battalion commander in the reserves.
July 1953 – Returns to the army, establishes the elite commando group, Unit 101, and begins leading retaliatory raids into Jordan.
1958-1967 – Rising through the ranks of the Israeli Defense Force, Sharon is promoted from major to colonel, to brigade commander of the Armored Corps, to chief of staff of the Southern Command, to major general of the Army.
June 5-11, 1967 – During the Six-Day War, he commands troops on the Egyptian front.
July 1973 – Resigns from the ISD and retires after 25 years.
October 6, 1973 – The Yom Kippur War begins and Sharon is called out of retirement as head of the Army’s Armored Reserve Division.
1974 – Is elected to the Knesset.
December 15, 1974 – Resigns from the Knesset to return to the army.
June 1, 1975- April 1, 1976 – Yitzhak Rabin’s military adviser.
June 20, 1977- August 5, 1981 – Minister of Agriculture under Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
August 5, 1981- February 11, 1983 – Defense Minister.
February 8, 1983 – A report is released about Israel’s role in the September 1982 Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp massacres in Lebanon, finding Sharon indirectly responsible for the events because his forces did not stop the Christian Phalangist militia group, which carried out the murders of hundreds of Arabs. This report is the impetus for Sharon’s resignation as defense minister.
1984-1985 – Sharon files a libel suit against Time, Inc. and its subsidiary Time-Life International for an article implying he had foreknowledge and had held greater responsibility for the massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. The jury finds Time guilty of defamation but not guilty of malice. Time prints a retraction admitting Sharon’s lack of foreknowledge, restoring Sharon’s reputation.
September 13, 1984- February 18, 1990 – Minister of Trade and Industry.
June 8, 1990- July 12, 1992 – Minister of Construction and Housing.
June 18, 1996-October 9, 1998 – Minister of National Infrastructure.
October 9, 1998-March 5, 2001 – Minister of Foreign Affairs.
September 2, 1999 – Is elected head of Israel’s Likud party.
February 6, 2001 – Wins a special election for prime minister.
March 7, 2001- April 11, 2006 – Prime Minister of Israel.
March 28, 2001 – Orders air strikes against Palestinian security installations in his first significant military action since assuming office.
June 28, 2001 – Sharon and Yasser Arafat approve a timeline for bringing a halt to Israeli-Palestinian violence and resuming peace talks.
May 13, 2002 – Defying Sharon, the Likud Party votes in favor of a resolution to never allow the creation of a Palestinian state.
October 31, 2002 – All six ministers in Sharon’s cabinet belonging to the Israeli Labor Party resign. Labor Party members of the Knesset vote against Sharon’s 2003 budget.
November 28, 2002 – Defeats Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for control of the Likud party in a primary election.
January 28, 2003 – Is re-elected to his second term as prime minister.
May 29, 2003 – Sharon meets face to face with the newly elected Prime Minister of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas.
June 4, 2003 – Abbas, US President George W. Bush, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Sharon discuss the Middle East “road map” in Aqaba, Jordan.
September 17, 2005 – Plans are announced for Mahmoud Abbas and Sharon to meet.
November 21, 2005 – Resigns from the right-wing Likud party.
November 24, 2005 – Registers his new political party under the name Kadima, Hebrew for “Forward.”
December 18, 2005 – Suffers a minor stroke.
January 4, 2006 – Is admitted to Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem after suffering a significant stroke and is under anesthesia and on a respirator. This is the second stroke suffered by Sharon in less than a month. Power is transferred to Vice Premier Ehud Olmert.
February 11, 2006 – Doctors remove approximately 20 inches of intestine after a lack of blood flow had caused the area to become gangrenous. Sharon remains comatose and in critical but stable condition.
April 11, 2006 – The Israeli cabinet declares Sharon permanently incapacitated, formally ending his term as prime minister.
May 28, 2006 – Is transferred from Hadassah Hospital to a long-term care facility, Tel HaShomer Hospital in Tel Aviv.
November 3, 2006 – Is transferred to the intensive care unit of Sheba Hospital.
October 2011 – His condition is described as “coma-like” or “near-coma,” with “‘minimal consciousness” and some response to external stimuli.
January 28, 2013 – Tests show “significant brain activity,” where Sharon’s brain appeared to respond when doctors showed him pictures of his family and had him listen to his son’s voice.
January 11, 2014 – Sharon dies after eight years in a coma, according to Israeli Army Radio. Sharon was 85.