Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon (Hebrew: אריאל שרון ; IPA: [arˈjɛl ʃaˈron] ( listen), Ariʼēl Sharōn, also known by his diminutive Arik, א ריק, born Ariel Scheinermann, אריאל שיינרמן ; February 26, 1928 – January 11, 2014) was an Israeli politician and general, who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel until he was incapacitated by a stroke. Sharon was a commander in the Israeli Army from its creation in 1948. As a soldier and then an officer, he participated prominently in the 1948 War of Independence, becoming a platoon commander in the Alexandroni Brigade and taking part in many battles, including Operation Ben Nun Alef. He was an instrumental figure in the creation of Unit 101, and the Reprisal operations, as well as in the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition, and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. As Minister of Defense, he directed the 1982 Lebanon War. Sharon was considered the greatest field commander in Israel's history, and one of the country's greatest military strategists. After his assault of the Sinai in the Six-Day War and his encirclement of the Egyptian Third Army in the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli public nicknamed him "The King of Israel". Upon retirement from the military, Sharon entered politics, joining the Likud, and served in a number of ministerial posts in Likud-led governments from 1977–92 and 1996–99. He became the leader of the Likud in 2000, and served as Israel's prime minister from 2001 to 2006. In 1983 the Kahan Commission, established by the Israeli Government, found that as Minister of Defense during the 1982 Lebanon War Sharon bore "personal responsibility" "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge" in the massacre by Lebanese militias of Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. The Kahan Commission recommended Sharon's removal as Defense Minister, and Sharon did resign after initially refusing to do so. From the 1970s through to the 1990s, Sharon championed construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, as Prime Minister, in 2004–05 Sharon orchestrated Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Facing stiff opposition to this policy within the Likud, in November 2005 he left Likud to form a new party, Kadima. He had been expected to win the next election and was widely interpreted as planning on "clearing Israel out of most of the West Bank", in a series of unilateral withdrawals. After suffering a stroke on January 4, 2006, Sharon remained in a permanent vegetative state until his death in January 2014.