View source for Ariel Sharon

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Israel from 2001 to 2006}}
{{For|the Israeli architect|Arieh Sharon}}
{{pp-extended|expiry=05:47, 26 December 2017|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| native_name         = {{nobold|אריאל שרון}}
| image               = Ariel Sharon official portrait 2001.webp
| caption             = Official portrait, 2001
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Israel]]
| term_start          = 7 March 2001
| term_end            = 14 April 2006{{ref label|Acting|nb}}
| president           = [[Moshe Katsav]]
| deputy              = Ehud Olmert
| predecessor         = [[Ehud Barak]]
| successor           = [[Ehud Olmert]]
| office1             = [[Likud|Chairman of Likud]]
| term_start1         = 6 July 1999
| term_end1           = 20 December 2005
| predecessor1        = [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]
| successor1          = Benjamin Netanyahu
| office2             = Ministerial portfolios
| subterm2            = 1977–1981
| suboffice2          = [[Ministry of Agriculture (Israel)|Agriculture]]
| subterm3            = 1981–1983
| suboffice3          = [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Defense]]
| subterm4            = 1984–1990
| suboffice4          = [[Ministry of Industry and Trade (Israel)|Industry and Trade]]
| subterm5            = 1990–1992
| suboffice5          = [[Ministry of Housing and Construction|Housing and Construction]]
| subterm6            = 1996–1999
| suboffice6          = [[Ministry of National Infrastructures|National Infrastructure]]
| subterm7            = 1998–1999
| suboffice7          = [[Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| subterm8            = 2001–2003
| suboffice8          = [[Ministry of Immigrant Absorption|Immigrant Absorption]]
| subterm9            = 2002–2003
| suboffice9          = Industry and Trade
| subterm10           = 2002
| suboffice10         = Foreign Affairs
| subterm11           = 2003
| suboffice11         = {{hlist|class=nowraplinks|[[Ministry of Communications (Israel)|Communications]]|[[Ministry of Religious Affairs (Israel)|Religious Affairs]]}}
| birth_name          = Ariel Scheinerman(n)
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1928|2|26|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Kfar Malal]], [[Mandatory Palestine]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2014|1|11|1928|2|26|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Ramat Gan]], Israel
| party               = {{plainlist|
* [[Israeli Liberal Party|Liberal]] (1973–1974)<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/13/world/man-in-the-news-laurels-for-israeli-warrior.html |title=Man in the News; Laurels for Israeli Warrior |author=[[Henry Kamm]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=13 June 1982}}</ref>
* [[Shlomtzion (political party)|Shlomtzion]] (1977)
* [[Likud]] (1977–2005)<ref>{{cite news|url = https://apnews.com/e1434d89d1349fbb6922821697b55a83 |title=New Israeli Cabinet Approved by Parliament |work=[[Associated Press]] |date=11 June 1990 }}</ref>
* [[Kadima]] (from 2005)
}}
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Margalit Zimmerman|1953|2 May 1962|reason = died}}
* {{marriage|Lily Zimmerman|1963|25 March 2000|reason = died}}
}}
| children            = 3
| alma_mater          = {{plainlist|
* [[Hebrew University <!-- of Jerusalem -->]]
* [[Tel Aviv University]]}}
| profession          = [[Military officer]]
| signature           = Ariel Sharon signature.svg
| footnotes           = n.b.&nbsp;{{note|Acting||Ehud Olmert served as [[Acting Prime Minister of Israel|acting prime minister]] from 4&nbsp;January 2006}}
<!--Military service-->| allegiance          = <!-- Israel -->
| branch              = {{plainlist|
* [[Haganah]]
* [[Israel Defense Forces]]
}}
| serviceyears        = 1948–1974
| rank                = {{transliteration|he|[[Aluf]]}} ([[major general]])
| unit                = {{plainlist|
* [[Paratroopers Brigade]]
* [[Unit 101]]
* [[Golani Brigade]]
}}
| commands            = {{plainlist|
* [[Southern Command (Israel)|Southern Command]]
* Paratroopers Brigade
* Unit 101
* Golani Brigade
}}
| battles             = {{plainlist|
* [[1947–1949 Palestine war]]
* [[Reprisal operations]]
* [[Suez Crisis]]
* [[Six-Day War]]
* [[Yom Kippur War]]
}}
| native_name_lang    = he
}}

'''Ariel Sharon''' ({{langx|he|אֲרִיאֵל שָׁרוֹן}} {{IPA|he|aʁiˈ(ʔ)el ʃaˈʁon||He-Ariel Sharon.ogg}}; also known by his [[diminutive]] '''Arik''', {{lang|he|אָרִיק}}; 26 February 1928{{snd}}11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the [[prime minister of Israel]] from March 2001 until April 2006.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lis |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.546747 |title=Ariel Sharon, former Israeli prime minister, dies at 85 |newspaper=Haaretz |agency=National Israel News |date=11 January 2014 |access-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111174341/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.546747 |archive-date=11 January 2014 }}</ref>

Born in [[Kfar Malal]] in [[Mandatory Palestine]] to Russian Jewish immigrants, he rose in the ranks of the [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli Army]] from its creation in 1948, participating in the [[1948 Palestine war]] as platoon commander of the [[Alexandroni Brigade]] and taking part in several battles. Sharon became an instrumental figure in the creation of [[Unit 101]] and the [[reprisal operations]], including the 1953 [[Qibya massacre]], as well as in the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]], the [[Six-Day War]] of 1967, the [[War of Attrition]], and the [[Yom Kippur War|Yom-Kippur War]] of 1973. [[Yitzhak Rabin]] called Sharon "the greatest field commander in our history".<ref name="Israel page 19-24">"Israel's Man of War", Michael Kramer, ''New York'', pp. 19–24, 9 August 1982: "the "greatest field commander in our history," says Yitzak Rabin"</ref> Upon leaving the military, Sharon entered politics, joining the [[Likud]] party, and served in a number of ministerial posts in Likud-led governments in 1977–92 and 1996–99. As Minister of Defense, he directed the [[1982 Lebanon War]]. An [[Kahan Commission|official enquiry]] found that he bore "personal responsibility" for the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]] of Palestinian refugees, for which he became known as the "Butcher of Beirut" among Arabs. He was subsequently removed as defense minister.<ref name=butcher /><ref>{{cite news | last=MacFarquhar | first=Neil | title=To Arabs in the Street, Sharon's a Butcher; Some Others Show a Kind of Respect | newspaper=The New York Times | date=6 January 2006 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/world/middleeast/to-arabs-in-the-street-sharons-a-butcher-some-others-show.html | access-date=13 June 2018}}</ref>

From the 1970s through to the 1990s, Sharon championed construction of [[Israeli settlement]]s in the [[Israeli-occupied territories|Israeli-occupied]] [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]]. He became the leader of the Likud in 1999, and in 2000, amid campaigning for the [[2001 Israeli prime ministerial election|2001 prime ministerial election]], made a controversial visit to the [[Al-Aqsa]] complex on the [[Temple Mount]], triggering the [[Second Intifada]]. He subsequently defeated [[Ehud Barak]] in the election and served as Israel's prime minister from 2001 to 2006. As Prime Minister, Sharon orchestrated the construction of the [[Israeli West Bank barrier]] in 2002–2003 and [[Israel's unilateral disengagement]] from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Facing stiff opposition to the latter 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.<ref name=Rees>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/2011/10/22/ariel_sharons_fascinating_appetite/ |title=Ariel Sharon's fascinating appetite |first=Matt |last=Rees |newspaper=Salon |date=22 October 2011 |archive-date=18 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118155226/http://www.salon.com/2011/10/22/ariel_sharons_fascinating_appetite/ |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref name="timesofisrael.com">{{cite news|author=Elhanan Miller |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/sharon-was-about-to-leave-two-thirds-of-the-west-bank |title=Sharon was about to leave two-thirds of the West Bank |newspaper=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=19 February 2013 |archive-date=21 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130221140742/http://www.timesofisrael.com/sharon-was-about-to-leave-two-thirds-of-the-west-bank |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref name="Terrorism 2013, page 9">{{cite book|author=Derek S. Reveron, Jeffrey Stevenson Murer|title=Flashpoints in the War on Terrorism |publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2013|page=9}}</ref> Following a stroke on 4 January 2006, Sharon remained in a [[permanent vegetative state]] until his death in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/scientists-say-comatose-former-israeli-leader-ariel-sharon-shows-robust-brain-activity/ |title=Scientists say comatose former Israeli leader Ariel Sharon shows 'robust' brain activity |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=28 January 2013 |access-date=12 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129100008/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/28/scientists-say-comatose-former-israeli-leader-ariel-sharon-shows-robust-brain/ |archive-date=29 January 2013  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Soffer |first=Ari |title=Ariel Sharon Passes Away, Aged 85 |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/176162 |publisher=[[Arutz Sheva]] |date=11 January 2014 |access-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111182224/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/176162 |archive-date=11 January 2014 }}</ref><ref name=bbcdeath>{{cite news|author=Yolande Knell |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25696601 |title=Israel's ex-PM Ariel Sharon dies, aged 85 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=11 January 2014 |access-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111152524/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25696601 |archive-date=11 January 2014  }}</ref>

Sharon remains a highly polarizing figure in Middle Eastern history. Israelis almost universally revere Sharon as a war hero and statesman, whereas Palestinians and [[Human Rights Watch]] have criticized him as a war criminal, with the latter lamenting that he was never held accountable.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-01-11 |title=Ariel Sharon: Hero or butcher? Five things to know |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/11/world/meast/ariel-sharon-5-things/index.html |publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-01-11 |title=Israel: Ariel Sharon's Troubling Legacy |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/11/israel-ariel-sharons-troubling-legacy |publisher=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 2693 People of Israel אריק שרון ואביו.JPG|thumb|left|Ariel Sharon at age 14 (second from right)]]
Ariel (Arik) Scheinerman (later Sharon) was born in [[Kfar Malal]], an agricultural [[moshav]], then in [[Mandatory Palestine]], to Shmuel Scheinerman (1896–1956) of [[Brest, Belarus|Brest-Litovsk]] and Vera (née Schneirov) Scheinerman (1900–1988) of [[Mogilev]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/world/middleeast/ariel-sharon-fierce-defender-of-a-strong-israel-dies-at-85.html |author=Ethan Bronner |title=Ariel Sharon, Israeli Hawk Who Sought Peace on His Terms, Dies at 85 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 January 2014 |access-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111131821/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/world/middleeast/ariel-sharon-fierce-defender-of-a-strong-israel-dies-at-85.html |archive-date=11 January 2014 }}</ref> His parents met while at university in Tiflis (now [[Tbilisi]], Republic of Georgia), where Sharon's father was studying [[agronomy]] and his mother was studying medicine. They [[aliyah|immigrated]] to Mandatory Palestine in 1922 in the wake of the Russian Communist government's growing persecution of Jews in the region.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Ariel Sharon|author1=Crompton, S.W.|author2=Worth, R.|date=2007|publisher=Facts on File, Incorporated|isbn=978-1-4381-0464-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDnaWshrMwwC&pg=PA20|page=20|access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref> In Palestine, Vera Scheinerman went by the name Dvora.

The family arrived with the [[Third Aliyah]] and settled in Kfar Malal, a socialist, [[secularism|secular]] community.<ref name="ha'aretz obit">{{cite news|author=Lis, Jonathan |title=Ariel Sharon, former Israeli prime minister, dies at 85 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |date=11 January 2014 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.546747 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111174341/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.546747  }}</ref> (Ariel Sharon himself would remain proudly secular throughout his life.<ref name="usatoday.com">[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/12/ariel-sharon-funeral/4439399 Thousands say farewell to Israel's Ariel Sharon] by Michele Chabin, Special for [[USA Today]], 12 January 2014</ref>) Although his parents were [[Mapai]] supporters, they did not always accept communal consensus: "The Scheinermans' eventual ostracism ... followed the 1933 [[Haim Arlosoroff|Arlozorov]] murder when Dvora and Shmuel refused to endorse the Labor movement's anti-Revisionist calumny and participate in [[bolshevism|Bolshevik]]-style public revilement rallies, then the order of the day. Retribution was quick to come. They were expelled from the local health-fund clinic and village synagogue. The cooperative's truck wouldn't make deliveries to their farm nor collect produce."<ref>{{cite web|title=Another tack: Yoni & the Scheinermans |first=Sarah |last=Honig |date=15 February 2001 |work=The Jerusalem Post |url=http://www.netanyahu.org/antacyonsche.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120134501/http://www.netanyahu.org/antacyonsche.html |archive-date=20 January 2013 }}</ref>

Sharon spoke both Hebrew and Russian.<ref>[http://isrageo.com/2014/09/17/sharonbelarys ШАРОН ВЕРНУЛСЯ В БЕЛАРУСЬ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107071410/http://www.isrageo.com/2014/09/17/sharonbelarys/ |date=7 November 2018 }} 17 September 2014</ref>

Four years after their arrival at Kfar Malal, the Sheinermans had a daughter, Yehudit (Dita). Ariel was born two years later. At age 10, he joined the youth movement [[HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed]]. As a teenager, he began to take part in the armed night-patrols of his [[moshav]]. In 1942 at the age of 14, Sharon joined the [[Gadna (Israel)|Gadna]], a paramilitary youth [[battalion]], and later the [[Haganah]], the underground paramilitary force and the Jewish military precursor to the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF).<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/>

==Military career==

===Battle for Jerusalem and 1948 War===
[[File:Latroun (24 mai).png|200px|thumb|left|Operation Bin Nun (24–25 May 1948), during which Sharon was shot in the stomach, foot and groin.]]
Sharon's unit of the [[Haganah]] became engaged in serious and continuous combat from the autumn of 1947, with the onset of the [[Battle for Jerusalem (1948)|Battle for Jerusalem]]. Without the manpower to hold the roads, his unit took to making offensive hit-and-run raids on Arab forces in the vicinity of Kfar Malal. In units of thirty men, they would hit constantly at Arab villages, bridges and bases, as well as ambush the traffic between Arab villages and bases.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

Sharon wrote in his autobiography: "We had become skilled at finding our way in the darkest nights and gradually we built up the strength and endurance these kind of operations required. Under the stress of constant combat we drew closer to one another and began to operate not just as a military unit but almost as a family. ... [W]e were in combat almost every day. Ambushes and battles followed each other until they all seemed to run together."<ref>Ariel Sharon, with David Chanoff; ''Warrior: The Autobiography of Ariel Sharon'', Simon & Schuster, 2001, pp. 41, 44.</ref>

For his role in a night-raid on Iraqi forces at Bir Adas, Sharon was made a [[platoon]] commander in the [[Alexandroni Brigade]].<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> Following the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence]] and the onset of the [[1948 Arab Israeli War|War of Independence]], his platoon fended off the Iraqi advance at Kalkiya. Sharon was regarded as a hardened and aggressive soldier, swiftly moving up the ranks during the war. He was shot in the groin, stomach and foot by the Jordanian [[Arab Legion]] in the [[Battles of Latrun|First Battle of Latrun]], an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the besieged Jewish community of [[Jerusalem]]. Sharon wrote of the casualties in the "horrible battle," and his brigade suffered 139 deaths.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

Jordanian field marshal [[Habis Majali]] said that Sharon was among 6 Israeli soldiers captured by the Jordanian 4th battalion during the battle, and that Majali took them to a camp in [[Mafraq]] and the 6 were later traded back.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=الصهيونية: الغرب والمقدس والسياسة|author=الكريم, حسني، عبد|date=2010|publisher=شمس للنشر والتوزيع،|isbn=978-977-493-028-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49lFAQAAIAAJ|access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref> Sharon denied the claims, but Majali was adamant. "Sharon is like a grizzly bear," he assured. "I captured him for 9 days, I healed his wounds and released him due to his insignificance." A few fellow high-ranking Jordanian officers testified in favour of his account.<ref name="guardian">{{cite web |last=Joffe |first=Lawrence |date=27 April 2001 |title=Habes al-Majali |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/27/guardianobituaries |accessdate=29 November 2018 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>"<ref name="theguardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/27/guardianobituaries|work=The Guardian|title=Obituary: Habes al-Majali &#124; The Guardian|access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref> In 1994 and during the peace treaty signing ceremony with Jordan, Sharon wanted to get in touch with his former captor, but the latter determinedly refused to discuss the incident publicly.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1329691/Field-Marshal-Habis-al-Majali.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1329691/Field-Marshal-Habis-al-Majali.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Telegraph|title=Field Marshal Habis al-Majali |access-date=6 January 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

After recovering from the wounds received at Latrun, he resumed command of his patrol unit. On 28 December 1948, his platoon attempted to break through an Egyptian stronghold in Iraq-El-Manshia.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} At about this time, Israeli founding father [[David Ben-Gurion]] gave him the [[Hebraization of surnames|Hebraized]] name "Sharon".<ref>Freedland, Jonathan (3 January 2014). [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/03/ariel-sharon-final-mission-peace-israel "Ariel Sharon's final mission might well have been peace"], ''The Guardian''. ("Even his name was given to him by Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion – turning the young Scheinerman into Sharon as if he were King Arthur anointing a knight".)</ref> In September 1949, Sharon was promoted to [[Company (military unit)|company]] commander (of the [[Golani Brigade]]'s reconnaissance unit) and in 1950 to [[Espionage|intelligence officer]] for Central Command. He then took leave to begin studies in history and Middle Eastern culture at the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]]. Sharon's subsequent military career would be characterized by insubordination, aggression and disobedience, but also brilliance as a commander.<ref>''A History of Modern Israel'', by Colin Shindler, Cambridge University Press,  2013, p. 168 {{ISBN?}}</ref>

===Unit 101===
A year and a half later, on the direct orders of the Prime Minister, Sharon returned to active service in the rank of major, as the founder and commander of the new [[Unit 101]], a special forces unit tasked with [[reprisal operations]] in response to [[Palestinian fedayeen]] attacks. The first Israeli commando unit, Unit 101 specialized in offensive guerrilla warfare in enemy countries.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> The unit consisted of 50 men, mostly former paratroopers and Unit 30 personnel. They were armed with non-standard weapons and tasked with carrying out special reprisals across the state's borders—mainly establishing small unit maneuvers, activation and insertion tactics. Training included engaging enemy forces across Israel's borders.<ref name=Morris>{{cite book|title=Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War|author=Benny Morris|year=1993|pages=251–253|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-829262-3}}</ref> Israeli historian [[Benny Morris]] describes Unit 101:

{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% | text=The new recruits began a harsh regimen of day and night training, their orientation and navigation exercises often taking them across the border; encounters with enemy patrols or village watchmen were regarded as the best preparation for the missions that lay ahead. Some commanders, such as Baum and Sharon, deliberately sought firefights. |author=Benny Morris |source=Israel's Border Wars<ref name="Border Wars">{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Benny|title=[[Israel's Border Wars 1949–1956]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-19-829262-3}}</ref>}}

Unit 101 undertook a series of raids against [[Jordan]], which then held the [[West Bank]]. The raids also helped bolster Israeli morale and convince Arab states that the fledgling nation was capable of long-range military action. Known for raids against Arab civilians and military targets, the unit is held responsible for the widely condemned [[Qibya massacre]] in October 1953. After a group of Palestinians used Qibya as a staging point for a fedayeen attack in [[Yehud-Monosson|Yehud]] that killed a Jewish woman and her two children in Israel, Unit 101 retaliated on the village.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> By various accounts of the ensuing attack, 65 to 70 Palestinian civilians, half of them women and children, were killed when Sharon's troops dynamited 45 houses and a school.<ref name="SF Chronicle obit">{{cite news|author=Stannard, Matthew B. |title=Ariel Sharon, former Israel PM, dies at 85 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Ariel-Sharon-former-Israel-PM-dies-at-85-5134081.php |date=11 January 2014 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112151320/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Ariel-Sharon-former-Israel-PM-dies-at-85-5134081.php |archive-date=12 January 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref name="NYT op-ed">{{cite news|author=Bergman, Ronen |title=Ariel Sharon, the Ruthless Warrior Who Could Have Made Peace |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/opinion/ariel-sharon-the-warrior-who-could-have-made-peace.html |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=11 January 2014 |access-date=13 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111201758/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/opinion/ariel-sharon-the-warrior-who-could-have-made-peace.html |archive-date=11 January 2014 }}</ref><ref name="independent obit">{{cite news|author=Silver, Eric |title=Ariel Sharon dies: Obituary – Unlike his right-wing predecessors, former Israeli PM was 'a pragmatist who could make concessions without feeling that he was committing sacrilege' |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=11 January 2014 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ariel-sharon-dies-obituary--unlike-his-rightwing-predecessors-former-israeli-pm-was-a-pragmatist-who-could-make-concessions-without-feeling-that-he-was-committing-sacrilege-9034506.html |access-date=13 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=12 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112162851/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ariel-sharon-dies-obituary--unlike-his-rightwing-predecessors-former-israeli-pm-was-a-pragmatist-who-could-make-concessions-without-feeling-that-he-was-committing-sacrilege-9034506.html  }}</ref>

Facing international condemnation for the attack, Ben-Gurion denied that the Israeli military was involved.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> In his memoir, Sharon wrote that the unit had checked all the houses before detonating the explosives and that he thought the houses were empty.<ref name="NYT op-ed"/> Although he admitted the results were tragic, Sharon defended the attack, however: "Now people could feel that the terrorist gangs would think twice before striking, now that they knew for sure they would be hit back. Kibbya also put the Jordanian and Egyptian governments on notice that if Israel was vulnerable, so were they."<ref name="SF Chronicle obit"/>

[[File:Dayan w Kuntila Raid comm.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Sharon, top second from left, with members of Unit 101 after Operation Egged (November 1955). Standing l to r: Lt. [[Meir Har-Zion]], Maj. Arik Sharon, Lt. Gen [[Moshe Dayan]], [[Danny Matt|Capt. Dani Matt]], Lt. Moshe Efron, Maj. Gen [[Asaf Simchoni]]; on ground, l to r: Capt. [[Aharon Davidi]], Lt. Ya'akov Ya'akov, Capt. [[Raful Eitan]]]]
A few months after its founding, Unit 101 was merged with the 890 Paratroopers Battalion to create the [[Paratroopers Brigade (IDF)|Paratroopers Brigade]], of which Sharon would also later become commander. Like Unit 101, it continued raids into Arab territory, culminating with the attack on the [[Qalqilyah]] police station in the autumn of 1956.<ref name="Unit 101 (history) - Specwar.info">{{cite web|title=Unit 101 |type=History |url=http://en.specwar.info/special-forces/israel/unit-101/ |publisher=Specwar |access-date=6 September 2009 |archive-date=13 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713055034/http://en.specwar.info/special-forces/israel/unit-101/ |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Leading up to the Suez War, the missions Sharon took part in included:{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}
*'''[[Qibya massacre|Operation Shoshana]]''' (now known as the Qibya massacre)
*'''[[Operation Black Arrow]]'''
*'''[[Operation Elkayam]]'''
*'''[[Operation Egged]]'''
*'''[[Operation Olive Leaves]]'''
*'''[[Operation Volcano (Israeli raid)|Operation Volcano]]'''
*'''Operation Gulliver (מבצע גוליבר)'''
*'''Operation Lulav (מבצע לולב)'''

During a payback operation in the Deir al-Balah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Sharon was again wounded by gunfire, this time in the leg.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> Incidents such as those involving [[Meir Har-Zion]], along with many others, contributed to the tension between Prime Minister [[Moshe Sharett]], who often opposed Sharon's raids, and [[Moshe Dayan]], who had become increasingly ambivalent in his feelings towards Sharon. Later in the year, Sharon was investigated and tried by the Military Police for disciplining one of his subordinates. However, the charges were dismissed before the onset of the Suez War.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

===1956 Suez War===
[[File:Davidi sharon.jpeg|thumb|left|165px|Sharon (left), armed with [[Ka-Bar|Ka-Bar combat knife]], stands with other paratroop commandos, before [[Operation Olive Leaves]], 1955.]]
Sharon commanded Unit 202 (the Paratroopers Brigade) during the [[Suez Crisis|1956 Suez War]] (the British "[[Operation Musketeer (1956)|Operation Musketeer]]"), leading the troop to take the ground east of the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]]'s [[Mitla Pass]] and eventually the pass itself against the advice of superiors, suffering heavy Israeli casualties in the process.<ref name="globes 1.11.14">{{cite news|url=http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000908506 |title=Ariel Sharon dies |newspaper=Globes |date=14 January 2014 |access-date=13 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=15 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115085638/http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000908506  }}</ref> Having successfully carried out the first part of his mission (joining a battalion parachuted near Mitla with the rest of the brigade moving on ground), Sharon's unit was deployed near the pass. Neither [[surveillance aircraft|reconnaissance aircraft]] nor [[Reconnaissance|scouts]] reported enemy forces inside the Mitla Pass. Sharon, whose forces were initially heading east, away from the pass, reported to his superiors that he was increasingly concerned with the possibility of an enemy thrust through the pass, which could attack his brigade from the flank or the rear.
[[Image:1956 Suez war - conquest of Sinai.jpg|thumb|150px|1956 Israeli conquest of Sinai]]
Sharon asked for permission to attack the pass several times, but his requests were denied, though he was allowed to check its status so that if the pass was empty, he could receive permission to take it later. Sharon sent a small scout force, which was met with heavy fire and became bogged down due to vehicle malfunction in the middle of the pass. Sharon ordered the rest of his troops to attack to aid their comrades. Sharon was criticized by his superiors and was damaged by allegations several years later made by several former subordinates, who claimed that Sharon tried to provoke the [[Egyptians]] and sent out the scouts in bad faith, ensuring that a battle would ensue.

Sharon had assaulted Themed in a dawn attack, and had stormed the town with his armor through the Themed Gap.<ref>{{cite book|last=Varble|first=Derek|title=The Suez Crisis 1956|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing|Osprey]]|place=London|year=2003|page=90}}</ref> Sharon routed the Sudanese police company, and captured the settlement. On his way to the [[An-Nakhl Fortress|Nakla]], Sharon's men came under attack from Egyptian MIG-15s. On the 30th, Sharon linked up with Eytan near Nakla.<ref name="Varble Derek">{{cite book|last=Varble|first=Derek|title=The Suez Crisis 1956|publisher=Osprey|place=London |year=2003|page=32}}</ref> Dayan had no more plans for further advances beyond the passes, but Sharon nonetheless decided to attack the Egyptian positions at Jebel Heitan.<ref name="Varble Derek"/> Sharon sent his lightly armed paratroopers against dug-in Egyptians supported by aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery. Sharon's actions were in response to reports of the arrival of the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 4th Egyptian Armored Division in the area, which Sharon believed would annihilate his forces if he did not seize the high ground. Sharon sent two infantry companies, a mortar battery and some AMX-13 tanks under the command of [[Mordechai Gur]] into the Heitan Defile on the afternoon of 31 October 1956. The Egyptian forces occupied strong defensive positions and brought down heavy anti-tank, mortar and machine gun fire on the IDF force.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book|last=Varble|first=Derek|title=The Suez Crisis 1956|publisher=Osprey|place=London|year=2003|page=33}}</ref> Gur's men were forced to retreat into the "Saucer", where they were surrounded and came under heavy fire. Hearing of this, Sharon sent in another task force while Gur's men used the cover of night to scale the walls of the Heitan Defile. During the ensuing action, the Egyptians were defeated and forced to retreat. A total of 260 Egyptian and 38 Israeli soldiers were killed during the battle at Mitla. Due to these deaths, Sharon's actions at Mitla were surrounded in controversy, with many within the IDF viewing the deaths as the result of unnecessary and unauthorized aggression.<ref name="Varble Derek"/>

===Six-Day War, War of Attrition and Yom Kippur War===
[[File:1967 Six Day War - conquest of Sinai 5-6 June.jpg|150px|thumb|Conquest of Sinai. 5–6 June 1967]]
{{Quote box
| quote = "It was a complex plan. But the elements that went into it were ones I had been developing and teaching for many years... the idea of close combat, nightfighting, surprise paratroop assault, attack from the rear, attack on a narrow front, meticulous planning, the concept of the 'tahbouleh', the relationship between headquarters and field command... But all the ideas had matured already; there was nothing new in them. It was simply a matter of putting all the elements together and making them work."
| source = Ariel Sharon, 1989, on his command at the [[Battle of Abu-Ageila (1967)|Battle of Abu-Ageila]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Ariel Sharon, with David Chanoff|title=Warrior: The Autobiography of Ariel Sharon|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=2001|pages=190–191}}</ref>
| align = left
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[[File:1967 Six Day War - conquest of Sinai 7-8 June.jpg|150px|thumb|Conquest of Sinai. 7–8 June 1967]]
The Mitla incident hindered Sharon's military career for several years. In the meantime, he occupied the position of an [[infantry]] [[brigade]] commander and received a [[law degree]] from [[Tel Aviv University]]. However, when [[Yitzhak Rabin]] became [[Ramatkal|Chief of Staff]] in 1964, Sharon again began to rise rapidly in the ranks, occupying the positions of Infantry School Commander and Head of Army Training Branch, eventually achieving the rank of [[Aluf]] ([[Major General]]).

In the [[Six-Day War]], Sharon, in command of an [[armored division]] on the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] [[Front (military)|front]], drew up his own complex offensive strategy that combined infantry troops, tanks and paratroopers from planes and helicopters to destroy the Egyptian forces Sharon's [[319th Division|38th Division]] faced when it broke through to the Kusseima-Abu-Ageila fortified area.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> Sharon's victories and offensive strategy in the [[Battle of Abu-Ageila (1967)|Battle of Abu-Ageila]] led to international commendation by military strategists; he was judged to have inaugurated a new paradigm in operational command. Researchers at the [[United States Army Training and Doctrine Command]] studied Sharon's operational planning, concluding that it involved a number of unique innovations. It was a simultaneous attack by a multiplicity of small forces, each with a specific aim, attacking a particular unit in a synergistic Egyptian defense network. As a result, instead of supporting and covering each other as they were designed to do, each Egyptian unit was left fighting for its own life.<ref>''Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation'', by Eyal Weizman, Verso 2012, p. 76</ref>

According to Sapir Handelman, after Sharon's [[Battle of Abu-Ageila (1967)|assault of the Sinai in the Six-Day War]] and his [[Yom Kippur War#Israeli breakthrough and crossing of the Suez Canal|encirclement of the Egyptian Third Army in the Yom Kippur War]], the Israeli public nicknamed him "The King of Israel".<ref>''Conflict and Peacemaking in Israel-Palestine: Theory and Application'', By Sapir Handelman, (Routledge 2011), p. 58: "for the majority of Israelis, Sharon became once more the "King of Israel".</ref>

Sharon played a key role in the [[War of Attrition]]. In 1969, he was appointed the Head of IDF's [[Southern Command (Israel)|Southern Command]]. As leader of the southern command, on 29 July Israeli frogmen [[Operation Bulmus 6|stormed and destroyed Green Island]], a fortress at the northern end of the Gulf of Suez whose radar and antiaircraft installations controlled that sector's airspace. On 9 September Sharon's forces carried out [[Operation Raviv]], a large-scale raid along the western shore of the Gulf of Suez. Landing craft ferried across Russian-made tanks and armored personnel carriers that Israel had captured in 1967, and the small column harried the Egyptians for ten hours.<ref>Ariel Sharon, ''Warrior'', Siomon & Shuster 1989, p. 223</ref>

Following his appointment to the southern command, Sharon had no further promotions, and considered retiring. Sharon discussed the issue with Rabbi [[Menachem M. Schneerson]], who strongly advised him to remain at his post.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/2458367/|title=The Rebbe to Sharon: Don't Leave the IDF! |website= Chabad.org}}</ref> Sharon remained in the military for another three years, before retiring in August 1973. Soon after, he helped found the [[Likud]] ("Unity") political party.<ref>{{cite web|date=17 June 2004 |access-date=15 April 2006 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/ariel-sharon.shtml |title=Israel's generals: Ariel Sharon |work=[[BBC Four]] |location=UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525150251/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/ariel-sharon.shtml |archive-date=25 May 2006 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>
[[File:1973 sinai war maps2.jpg|thumb|330px|left|''[[Operation Gazelle]]'', Israel's ground maneuver, encircles the [[Egyptian Third Army]], October 1973]]
At the start of the [[Yom Kippur War]] on 6 October 1973, Sharon was called back to active duty along with his assigned reserve armored division. On his farm, before he left for the front line, the Reserve Commander, Zeev Amit, said to him, "How are we going to get out of this?" Sharon replied, "You don't know? We will cross the Suez Canal and the war will end over there." Sharon arrived at the front, to participate in his fourth war, in a civilian car.<ref>''Ariel Sharon'' by {{Interlanguage link|Uri Dan|de}}</ref> His forces did not engage the [[Egyptian Army]] immediately, despite his requests. Under cover of darkness, Sharon's forces moved to a point on the [[Suez Canal]] that had been prepared before the war. In a move that again thwarted the commands of his superiors, Sharon's division crossed the Suez, effectively winning the war for Israel.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> He then headed north [[Battle of Ismailia|towards Ismailia]], intent on cutting the Egyptian second army's supply lines, but his division was halted south of the [[Fresh Water Canal]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/gawrych/gawrych_pt6.pdf |title=The Alabatross of Decisive Victory: The 1973 Arab-Israeli War |author= George W. Gawrych |access-date=3 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325065236/http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/gawrych/gawrych_pt6.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2009}}  p. 72</ref>
[[File:Israeli Tanks Cross the Suez Canal - Flickr - Israel Defense Forces.jpg|thumb|150px|Sharon's 143rd Division, crossing the Suez Canal, in the direction of Cairo, 15 October 1973]]

[[Abraham Adan]]'s division passed over the bridgehead into Africa, advancing to within 101 kilometers of [[Cairo]]. His division managed to encircle [[Suez]], cutting off and [[Encirclement|encircling]] the Third Army. Tensions between the two generals followed Sharon's decision, but a [[military tribunal]] later found his action was militarily effective.

Sharon's complex ground maneuver is regarded as a decisive move in the Yom Kippur War, undermining the [[Egyptian Second Army]] and encircling the Egyptian Third Army.<ref>''The Yom Kippur War 1973 (2): The Sinai'', By Simon Dunstan, Osprey Publishing, 20 April 2003</ref> This move was regarded by many Israelis as the turning point of the war in the Sinai front. Thus, Sharon is widely viewed as the hero of the Yom Kippur War, responsible for Israel's ground victory in the Sinai in 1973.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> A photo of Sharon wearing a head bandage on the Suez Canal became a famous symbol of Israeli military prowess.

Sharon's political positions were controversial, and he was relieved of duty in February 1974.

===Bar Lev Line===
{{Main|Bar Lev Line}}
Following Israel's victory in the six-day war, the war of attrition at the [[Suez Canal]] began. The Egyptians began firing in provocation against the Israeli forces posted on the eastern part of the canal. [[Haim Bar Lev]], Israel's chief of staff, suggested that Israel construct a border line to protect its southern border. A wall of sand and earth raised along almost the entire length of the Suez Canal would both allow observation of Egyptian forces and conceal the movements of Israeli troops on the eastern side. This line, named after the chief of staff Haim Bar Lev, became known as the [[Bar Lev Line]]. It included at least thirty strong points stretching over almost 200 kilometers.<ref>Ahron Bregman, ''Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947''. Routledge, 2000. p. 126</ref>

Bar Lev suggested that such a line would defend against any major Egyptian assault across the canal, and was expected to function as a "graveyard for Egyptian troops". [[Moshe Dayan]] described it as "one of the best anti-tank ditches in the world."<ref>George W. Gawrych, [http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/gawrych/gawrych_pt1.pdf The 1973 Arab-Israeli War: The Albatross of Decisive Victory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507130100/http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/download/csipubs/gawrych/gawrych_pt1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/download/csipubs/gawrych/gawrych_pt1.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |date=7 May 2011 }} pp. 16–18</ref> Sharon, and [[Israel Tal]] on the other hand, vigorously opposed the line. Sharon said that it would pin down large military formations that would be sitting ducks for deadly artillery attacks, and cited the opinion of Rabbi [[Menachem M. Schneerson]], who explained him "the great military disaster such a line could bring."<ref>Joseph Telushkin, ''[[Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History]]''. HarperCollins, 2014. pp. 289–290</ref><ref>Ariel Sharon, ''Warrior''. Simon & Schuster, 1989. p.  236</ref> Notwithstanding, it was completed in spring 1970.

During the [[Yom Kippur War]], Egyptian forces successfully breached the Bar Lev Line in less than two hours at a cost of more than a thousand dead and some 5,000 wounded.<ref>Israel Harel, {{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/from-the-bar-lev-line-to-sharon-s-1.51760 |title=From the Bar-Lev Line to Sharon's |work=Haaretz |date=28 February 2002 |archive-date=20 November 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120130938/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/from-the-bar-lev-line-to-sharon-s-1.51760  }}</ref> Sharon would later recall that what [[Menachem M. Schneerson|Schneerson]] had told him was a tragedy, "but unfortunately, that happened".<ref>{{cite web|title=Ariel Sharon and the Rebbe |work=JEM |year=2010 |url=http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/2451287/jewish/Prime-Minister-Ariel-Sharon-and-the-Rebbe.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011122533/http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/2451287/jewish/Prime-Minister-Ariel-Sharon-and-the-Rebbe.htm |archive-date=11 October 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

==Early political career, 1974–2001==

===Beginnings of political career===
In the 1940s and 1950s, Sharon seemed to be personally devoted to the ideals of [[Mapai]], the predecessor of the modern [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor Party]]. However, after retiring from military service, he joined the Liberal Party and was instrumental in establishing [[Likud]] in July 1973 by a merger of [[Herut]], the [[Liberalism in Israel|Liberal Party]] and independent elements.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/><ref name="independent obit"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Sharon-The-life-of-a-lion-337867 |title=Sharon: The life of a lion |author=Tovah Lazaroff |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=12 January 2014 |access-date=5 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209114040/http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Sharon-The-life-of-a-lion-337867 |archive-date=9 December 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> Sharon became chairman of the campaign staff for [[1973 Israeli legislative election|that year's elections]], which were scheduled for November. Two and a half weeks after the start of the election campaign, the [[Yom Kippur War]] erupted and Sharon was called back to reserve service. On the heels of being hailed as a war hero for crossing the Suez in the 1973 war, Sharon won a seat to the Knesset in the elections that year,<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> but resigned a year later.

From June 1975 to March 1976, Sharon was a special aide to Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]]. He planned his return to politics for the [[1977 Israeli legislative election|1977 elections]]; first, he tried to return to the Likud and replace [[Menachem Begin]] at the head of the party. He suggested to [[Simha Erlich]], who headed the Liberal Party bloc in the Likud, that he was more able than Begin to win an election victory; he was rejected, however. He then tried to join the Labor Party and the [[centrism|centrist]] [[Democratic Movement for Change]], but was rejected by those parties too. Only then did he form his own list, [[Shlomtzion (political party)|Shlomtzion]], which won two Knesset seats in the subsequent elections. Immediately after the elections, he merged Shlomtzion with the Likud and became [[Agriculture Minister of Israel|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 Arab]]s' return to these territories. Sharon doubled the number of Jewish settlements on the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]] during his tenure.

After the 1981 elections, Begin rewarded Sharon for his important contribution to Likud's narrow win, by appointing him [[Defense Minister of Israel|Minister of Defense]].

Under Sharon, Israel continued to build upon the unprecedented coordination between the [[Israel Defense Forces]] and the [[South African Defence Force]], with 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 Opera]], which had previously only been reserved for the United States.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa |first=Sasha |last=Polakow-Suransky |publisher=Random House |year=2010 |pages=145–147 |isbn=978-1-77009-840-4}}</ref> In 1981, after visiting South African forces fighting in Namibia for 10 days, Sharon argued that South Africa needed more weapons to fight Soviet infiltration in the region.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00714FF3E5C0C778DDDAB0994D9484D81
|title=South Africa needs more arms, Israeli says  |date=14 December 1981 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |first=Drew |last=Middleton}}</ref> Sharon promised that the relationship between Israel and South Africa would continue to deepen as they work to "ensure the National Defense of both our countries".<ref>[http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116770 Letter from Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon to South Africian Defense Minister Magnus Malan ] 7 December 1981</ref> The collaboration in carrying out joint-nuclear tests, in planning counter-insurgency strategies in Namibia and in designing security fences helped to make Israel, South Africa's closest ally in this period.<ref>''Uzi Diplomacy'', Victor Perera, Mother Jones Magazine, Jul 1985</ref>

===1982 Lebanon War and Sabra and Shatila massacre===
[[File:Ariel Sharon 1982 HD-SC-98-07543.JPEG|thumb|250px|right|[[Defense Minister of Israel|Minister of Defense]] Sharon (right) with his US counterpart [[Caspar Weinberger]], 1982]]
As Defense Minister, Sharon launched an invasion of Lebanon called Operation Peace for Galilee, later known as the [[1982 Lebanon War]], following the shooting of Israel's ambassador in London, [[Shlomo Argov]]. Although this attempted assassination was in fact perpetrated by the [[Abu Nidal Organization]], possibly with Syrian or Iraqi involvement,<ref>{{cite book|last=Becker|first=Jillian|title=PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=1984|isbn=978-1-4918-4435-9|page=362}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Schiff|first1=Ze'ev|last2=Ya'ari|first2=Ehud|title=Israel's Lebanon War|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1985|isbn=978-0-671-60216-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa00zeev/page/99 99–100]|url=https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa00zeev/page/99}}</ref> the Israeli government justified the invasion by citing 270 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).<ref>{{cite book|last=Becker|first=Jillian|title=PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=1984|isbn=978-1-4918-4435-9|page=257}}</ref> Sharon intended the operation to eradicate the PLO from its state within a state inside Lebanon, but the war is primarily remembered for the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]].<ref name="globe and mail">{{cite news|author=Martin, Patrick|title=Israel must confront Sharon's legacy|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=12 January 2014|access-date=13 January 2014|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/israel-must-confront-sharons-legacy/article16294589/}}</ref> 

In a three-day massacre between 16 and 18 September, between 460<ref name="Lebanon War 282"/><ref name="Becker 265">{{cite book|last=Becker|first=Jillian|title=PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=1984|isbn=978-1-4918-4435-9|page=265}}</ref> and 3,500 civilians, mostly [[Palestinian people|Palestinians]] and [[Shia Islam in Lebanon|Lebanese Shiites]], in the Sabra neighborhood and the adjacent [[Shatila refugee camp]] were killed by the [[Kataeb Party|Phalanges]]— Lebanese Maronite Christian militias.<ref name=malone>{{cite journal|last=Malone|first=Linda A.|title=The Kahan Report, Ariel Sharon and the SabraShatilla Massacres in Lebanon: Responsibility Under International Law for Massacres of Civilian Populations|journal=Utah Law Review|year=1985|url=http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1606&context=facpubs&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com.tr%2Fscholar%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dmassacres%2Bin%2Blebanon%26btnG%3D%26as_sdt%3D1%252C5%26as_sdtp%3D#search=%22massacres%20lebanon%22|access-date=1 January 2013|pages=373–433}}</ref> Shatila had previously been one of the PLO's three main training camps for foreign terrorists and the main training camp for European terrorists;<ref>{{cite book|last=Becker|first=Jillian|title=PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=1984|isbn=978-1-4918-4435-9|pages=239, 356–357}}</ref> the Israelis maintained that 2,000 to 3,000 terrorists remained in the camps, but were unwilling to risk the lives of more of their soldiers after the Lebanese army repeatedly refused to "clear them out."<ref>{{cite book|last=Becker|first=Jillian|title=PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=1984|isbn=978-1-4918-4435-9|page=264}}</ref> The killings followed years of sectarian civil war in Lebanon that left 95,000 dead.<ref name="Becker 265"/> The Lebanese army's chief prosecutor investigated the killings and counted 460 dead, Israeli intelligence estimated 700–800 dead, and the Palestinian Red Crescent claimed 2,000 dead. 1,200 death certificates were issued to anyone who produced three witnesses claiming a family member disappeared during the time of the massacre.<ref name="Lebanon War 282">{{cite book|last1=Schiff|first1=Ze'ev|last2=Ya'ari|first2=Ehud|title=Israel's Lebanon War|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1985|isbn=978-0-671-60216-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa00zeev/page/282 282]|url=https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa00zeev/page/282}}</ref> Nearly all of the victims were men.<ref name="Lebanon War 282"/><ref name="Becker 265"/>

The Phalange militia went into the camps to clear out PLO fighters while Israeli forces surrounded the camps,<ref name="NYT anziska">{{cite news|author=Anziska, Seth |title=A Preventable Massacre |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 September 2012 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/opinion/a-preventable-massacre.html |access-date=13 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118012524/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/opinion/a-preventable-massacre.html |archive-date=18 January 2014 }}</ref> blocking camp exits and providing logistical support. The killings led some to label Sharon "the Butcher of Beirut".<ref name=butcher>{{cite news|author=Saleh, Heba |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1156796.stm |title=Sharon victory: An Arab nightmare |date=6 February 2001 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026101933/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1156796.stm |archive-date=26 October 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

An [[Associated Press]] report on 15 September 1982 stated, "Defence Minister Ariel Sharon, in a statement, tied the killing of the Phalangist leader [[Bachir Gemayel]] to the PLO, saying 'it symbolises the terrorist murderousness of the PLO terrorist organisations and their supporters'."<ref>{{citation|author=[[Robert Fisk]]|title=[[The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East]] |publisher= Fourth Estate|location=London|year=2005}}</ref> [[Habib Chartouni]], a Lebanese Christian from the [[Syrian Socialist National Party]] confessed to the murder of Gemayel, and no Palestinians were involved.

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.<ref>Robert Maroun Hatem, ''From Israel to Damascus'', Chapter 7: "The Massacres at Sabra and Shatilla" [https://web.archive.org/web/20030330062741/http://www.free-lebanon.com/News/Documents_of_Note/DOC_chap8/doc_chap8.html online]    {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040512001055/http://www.free-lebanon.com/News/Documents_of_Note/DOC_chap8/doc_chap8.html |date=12 May 2004 }}. Retrieved 24 February 2006.</ref> Hatem claimed "Sharon had given strict orders to Hobeika....to guard against any desperate move" and that Hobeika perpetrated the massacre "to tarnish Israel's reputation worldwide" for the benefit of Syria. 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 1985.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Alexander|first1=Edward|last2=Bogdanor|first2=Paul|title=The Jewish Divide Over Israel|publisher=Transaction|year=2006|page=90}}</ref>

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.<ref name="NYT anziska"/> America sent troops to help negotiate the PLO's exit from Lebanon, withdrawing them after negotiating a ceasefire that ostensibly protected Palestinian civilians.<ref name="NYT anziska"/>

====Legal findings====
After 400,000 [[Peace Now]] protesters rallied in [[Tel Aviv]] to demand an official government inquiry into the massacres, the official Israeli government investigation into the massacre at Sabra and Shatila, the [[Kahan Commission]] (1982), was conducted.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> The inquiry found that the [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli Defense Forces]] were indirectly responsible for the massacre since IDF troops held the area.<ref name="NYT anziska"/> The commission determined that the killings were carried out by a Phalangist unit acting on its own, but its entry was known to Israel and approved by Sharon. 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<ref name="NYT anziska"/> "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.<ref name="Ref-1">{{cite book|last=Schiff|first=Ze'ev|author-link=Ze'ev Schiff|author2=[[Ehud Ya'ari]]|title=Israel's Lebanon War|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=1984|pages=[https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/283 283–284]|isbn=978-0-671-47991-6|url=https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/283}}</ref> In early 1983, the commission recommended the removal of Sharon from his post as defense minister and stated:

<blockquote style=font-size:100%>We have found&nbsp;... that the Minister of Defense [Ariel Sharon] bears personal responsibility. 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 ...&nbsp;to&nbsp;... remove [him] from office.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs|date=8 February 1983|access-date=15 April 2006|title=Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the events at the refugee camps in Beirut&nbsp;– 8 February 1983|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/mfadocuments/yearbook6/pages/104%20report%20of%20the%20commission%20of%20inquiry%20into%20the%20e.aspx}}</ref></blockquote>

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]].<ref>{{cite web |access-date=1 September 2011 |title=Knesset 9-11 |publisher=Gov.il |url=http://www.gov.il/FirstGov/TopNavEng/EngSubjects/EngSElections/EngSEKnessets/EngSE9-11/ |archive-date=22 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110922044840/http://www.gov.il/FirstGov/TopNavEng/EngSubjects/EngSElections/EngSEKnessets/EngSE9-11/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In its 21 February 1983 issue, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' published an article implying that Sharon was directly responsible for the massacres.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Smith |first=William E. |others=Reported by Harry Kelly and Robert Slater |title=The Verdict Is Guilty: An Israeli commission and the Beirut massacre |url=https://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,925886,00.html |access-date=28 September 2010 |magazine=Time |volume=121 |issue=8 |date=21 February 1983 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140423030943/http://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,925886,00.html |archive-date=23 April 2014 }}</ref> Sharon sued ''Time'' for [[Slander and libel|libel]] in American and Israeli courts. 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://brookekroeger.com/articles_newspaper/Sharonloses.html |author=Brooke W. Kroeger |title=Sharon Loses Libel Suit; Time Cleared of Malice |date=25 January 1984 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030721130022/http://brookekroeger.com/articles_newspaper/Sharonloses.html |archive-date=21 July 2003 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On 18 June 2001, relatives of the victims of the Sabra massacre began proceedings in Belgium to have Sharon indicted on alleged [[war crime]]s charges.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Complaint Against Ariel Sharon for his involvement in the massacres at Sabra and Shatila |url=http://www.caabu.org/campaigns/complaint-against-sharon.html |access-date=15 April 2006 |publisher=[[The Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding]] |archive-date=4 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060404060442/http://www.caabu.org/campaigns/complaint-against-sharon.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Elie Hobeika, the leader of the Phalange militia who carried out the massacres, was assassinated in January 2002, several months before he was scheduled to testify trial. Prior to his assassination, he had "specifically stated that he did not plan to identify Sharon as being responsible for Sabra and Shatila."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jcpa.org/art/brief1-17.htm |title=Elie Hobeika's Assassination: Covering up the Secrets of Sabra and Shatilla |publisher=Jerusalem Issues Brief |date=30 January 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030705182504/http://www.jcpa.org/art/brief1-17.htm |archive-date=5 July 2003 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

===Support for Iran===
During the [[Iran–Iraq War]], Israel was one of the [[Israeli support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war|main suppliers of military equipment to Iran]]. The US on the other hand, was officially a staunch supporter of [[Saddam Hussein]]. In May 1982, Shraon spoke to [[NBC News]] and justified the Israeli position, saying that there was a threat to Iran from the [[Soviet Union]]. He opined that the US should not extend even tacit support for Iraq in the conflict. He was further concerned that Iranian success in the conflict had led to four Arab countries forming an Anti-Iraninan alliance, the [[Gulf Cooperation Council]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Press |first=Associated |date=May 27, 1982 |title=Israeli aid to Iran alarms US |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1982/0527/Pg006.html |work=Irish Times |location=Dublin |publisher= |access-date=18 September 2025}} </ref>
It later transpired that the US was also selling arms to Iran, in what was to be known as the [[Iran–Contra affair]].

===Political downturn and recovery===
{{Quote box
|quote= "I begin with the basic conviction that Jews and Arabs can live together. 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."
| source = Ariel Sharon, 1989<ref>Ariel Sharon, with David Chanoff; ''Warrior: The Autobiography of Ariel Sharon'', Simon & Schuster, 2001, p. 543.</ref>
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[[File:President Bill Clinton greeting Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Mordechai.jpg|thumb|right|Sharon and [[Yitzhak Mordechai]] greeting United States President [[Bill Clinton]] in 1998]]
After his dismissal from the Defense Ministry post, Sharon remained in successive governments as a minister without portfolio (1983–1984), [[Industry, Trade and Labour Minister of Israel|Minister for Trade and Industry]] (1984–1990), and [[Housing and Construction Minister of Israel|Minister of Housing Construction]] (1990–1992). In the Knesset, he was member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee (1990–1992) and chairman of the committee overseeing [[aliyah|Jewish immigration]] from the [[Soviet Union]]. During this period he was a rival to then prime minister [[Yitzhak Shamir]], but failed in various bids to replace him as chairman of Likud. Their rivalry reached a head in February 1990, when Sharon grabbed the microphone from Shamir, who was addressing the Likud central committee, and famously exclaimed: "Who's for wiping out terrorism?"<ref name=philly>{{cite news|title=Sharon Quits Cabinet in Likud Scrap |url=http://articles.philly.com/1990-02-13/news/25883895_1_likud-party-likud-meeting-sharon-and-shamir |access-date=11 January 2014 |newspaper=[[Philadelphia Daily News]] |date=13 February 1990 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111174335/http://articles.philly.com/1990-02-13/news/25883895_1_likud-party-likud-meeting-sharon-and-shamir |archive-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> The incident was widely viewed as an apparent [[Coup d'état|coup]] attempt against Shamir's leadership of the party.

Sharon unsuccessfully challenged Shamir in the [[1984 Herut leadership election]] and the [[1992 Likud leadership election]].

In [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]'s 1996–1999 government, Sharon was [[National Infrastructure Minister of Israel|Minister of National Infrastructure]] (1996–98), and [[Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel|Foreign Minister]] (1998–99). Upon the election of the [[Ehud Barak|Barak]] Labor government, Sharon became the interim leader of the Likud party and subsequently won the [[September 1999 Likud leadership election]].

==== Opposition to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia ====
Ariel Sharon criticised the [[NATO bombing of Yugoslavia]] in 1999 as an act of "brutal interventionism".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130806033924/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/ariel-sharon-by-robert-fisk-521809.html Ariel Sharon... by Robert Fisk] Friday 6 January 2006, ''The Independent''</ref> Sharon said both Serbia and Kosovo have been victims of violence. He said prior to the current Yugoslav campaign against Kosovo Albanians, Serbians were the targets of attacks in the Kosovo province. "Israel has a clear policy. 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." During the crisis, Elyakim Haetzni said the Serbs should be the first to receive Israeli aid. "There are our traditional friends," he told Israel Radio."<ref>''Israel government refrains from supporting NATO attacks'', By Steve Rodan, Tuesday, 30 March 1999</ref> It was suggested that Sharon may have supported the Yugoslav position because of the Serbian population's history of saving Jews during the Holocaust.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.585494 Russia or Ukraine? For some Israelis, Holocaust memories are key] Haaretz, By David Landau, 15 April 2014</ref> On Sharon's death, Serbian minister [[Aleksandar Vulin]] stated: The Serbian people will remember Sharon for opposing the 1999 NATO bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia and advocating respect for sovereignty of other nations and a policy of not interfering with their internal affairs.<ref>[http://www.serbia-times.com/aleksandar-vulin-lays-wreath-at-ariel-sharons-grave Aleksandar Vulin lays wreath at Ariel Sharon's grave] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521100600/http://www.serbia-times.com/aleksandar-vulin-lays-wreath-at-ariel-sharons-grave/ |date=21 May 2014 }} Published on 20 January 2014, Serbia Times</ref>

===Campaign for Prime Minister, 2000–2001===
On 28 September 2000, Sharon and an escort of over 1,000 Israeli police officers visited the [[Temple Mount]] complex, site of the [[Dome of the Rock]] and [[Qibli Mosque]], the 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.S. 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 200." According to the government of Israel, 14 policemen were injured.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

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. Sharon's supporters claim that [[Yasser Arafat]] and the [[Palestinian National Authority]] planned the [[Second Intifada]] months prior to Sharon's visit.<ref>{{cite web|author=Khaled Abu Toameh|date=19 September 2002|url= http://www.mafhoum.com/press3/111P55.htm|title=How the war began}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Middle East Troubles |date=20 May 2001 |publisher=Townhall.com |author=Charles Krauthammer |url=http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/charleskrauthammer/2001/05/20/166454.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109052547/http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/charleskrauthammer/2001/05/20/166454.html |archive-date=9 November 2005 |url-status=live  }}</ref> They state that Palestinian security chief Jabril Rajoub provided assurances that if Sharon did not enter the mosques, no problems would arise. They also often quote statements by Palestinian Authority officials, particularly Imad Falouji, the P.A. 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 2000 Summit|Camp David]] negotiations rejecting the U.S. conditions".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://jewishweek.org/news/newscontent.php3?artid=3846 |title=PA: Intifada Was Planned |author=Stewart Ain |date=20 December 2000 |newspaper=[[The Jewish Week]] |archive-date=10 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050310043812/http://jewishweek.org/news/newscontent.php3?artid=3846 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to the [[Mitchell Report (Arab-Israeli conflict)|Mitchell Report]],
{{blockquote|the government of Israel asserted that the immediate catalyst for the violence was the breakdown of the Camp David negotiations on 25 July 2000 and the "widespread appreciation in the international community of Palestinian responsibility for the impasse." In this view, Palestinian violence was planned by the PA leadership, and was aimed at "provoking and incurring Palestinian casualties as a means of regaining the diplomatic initiative."}}
The Mitchell Report found that
{{blockquote|the Sharon visit did not cause the Al-Aqsa Intifada. 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.}}
In addition, the report stated,
{{blockquote|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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140823071635/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/6E61D52EAACB860285256D2800734E9A ''Report of The Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee'']. On UNISPAL</ref>}}

The Or Commission, an Israeli panel of inquiry appointed to investigate the October 2000 events,
{{blockquote|criticised the Israeli police for being unprepared for the riots and possibly using excessive force to disperse the mobs, resulting in the deaths of 12 Arab Israeli, one Jewish and one Palestinian citizens.}}

==Prime Minister (2001–2006)==
[[File:Vladimir Putin in Israel 27-29 April 2005-10.jpg|thumb|250px|Sharon and President [[Vladimir Putin]] meeting in Israel.]]
[[File:sharon bush abbas.jpg|thumb|right|250px|President [[George W. Bush]], center, discusses the [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process]] with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, left, and [[Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority]] [[Mahmoud Abbas]] in [[Aqaba]], Jordan, 4 June 2003.]]
[[File:Red Sea Summit in Aqaba.jpg|250px|thumb|right|[[Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority]] [[Mahmoud Abbas]], United States President [[George W. Bush]], and Ariel Sharon, Red Sea Summit, [[Aqaba]], June 2003]]
[[File:Sharon Bush 20040414 3.jpg|250px|thumb|President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon, [[White House]], April 2004]]

After the collapse of Barak's government, Sharon was [[2001 Israeli prime ministerial election|elected Prime Minister on 6 February 2001]], defeating Barak 62 percent to 38 percent.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> Sharon's senior adviser was [[Raanan Gissin]]. In his first act as prime minister, Sharon invited the Labor Party to join in a coalition with Likud.<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> After Israel was struck by a wave of [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks#2000s|suicide bombings]] in 2002 amid the Second Intifada, Sharon launched [[Operation Defensive Shield]], an extensive military operation in the West Bank during which the IDF launched incursions into major Palestinian cities to root out militant activity, as well as a series of [[Targeted killings by Israel|targeted assassinations]] against Palestinian militants.<ref>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israels-leaders-use-targeted-killings-to-try-to-stop-history/ How Israel’s leaders use targeted killings to try to ‘stop history’]</ref> His government also built the [[West Bank barrier]]. A survey conducted by Tel Aviv University's Jaffe Center in May 2004 found that 80% of Jewish Israelis believed that the Israel Defense Forces had succeeded in militarily countering the Al-Aqsa Intifada.<ref>{{cite web|date=May 2004  |url=http://spirit.tau.ac.il/socant/peace/peaceindex/2004/data/may2004d.pdf |script-title=he:מדד השלום |publisher=The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research |language=he |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108082619/http://spirit.tau.ac.il/socant/peace/peaceindex/2004/data/may2004d.pdf |archive-date=8 November 2006 }}</ref>

The election of the more pro-Russian Sharon, as well as the more pro-Israel [[Vladimir Putin]], led to an improvement in [[Israel–Russia relations]].<ref>[http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-maturing-of-israeli-russian-relations The Maturing of Israeli-Russian Relations] Anna Borshchevskaya, ''inFocus Quarterly'', Spring 2016</ref>

In September 2003, Sharon 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.C., and [[Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3089466.stm |title=India and Israel vow to fight terrorism |work=BBC News |date=9 September 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727134615/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3089466.stm |archive-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 20 July 2004, Sharon called on [[French Jews]] to emigrate from France to Israel immediately, in light of an increase in [[Antisemitism in 21st-century France|antisemitism in France]] (94 antisemitic assaults were reported in the first six months of 2004, compared to 47 in 2003). France has the third-largest Jewish population in the world (about 600,000 people). 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 [[Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France|CRIF]], which 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.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

===Unilateral disengagement===
{{Main|Israel's unilateral disengagement plan}}
In September 2001, Sharon stated for the first time that Palestinians should have the right to establish their own land west of the [[Jordan River]].<ref name="ha'aretz obit"/> In May 2003, Sharon endorsed the [[Road Map for Peace]] put forth by the United States, the [[European Union]] and Russia, which opened a dialogue with [[Mahmud Abbas]], and stated his commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state in the future.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/ariel-sharons-legacy-of-separation/282955/|title=Ariel Sharon's Legacy of Separation|date=January 11, 2014|author=Geoffrey Levin|work=The Atlantic|quote=He thus endorsed the two-state solution and the international community’s “road map” for peace in 2003.}}</ref>

He embarked on a course of unilateral withdrawal from the [[Gaza Strip]], while 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.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

===Disengagement from Gaza===
On 1 December 2004, Sharon dismissed five ministers from the Shinui party for voting against the government's 2005 budget. In January 2005, Sharon 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 August 2005, Sharon controversially expelled 9,480 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 Dayan]], placed an ancient curse on Sharon known as the [[Pulsa diNura]], calling on the [[Destroying angel (Bible)|Angel of Death]] to intervene and kill him. After Israeli soldiers bulldozed every settlement structure except for several former synagogues, Israeli soldiers formally left Gaza on 11 September 2005 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.<ref>{{cite news |url-status=live |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/09/israel.government/index.html |title=Sharon party agrees coalition plan |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=10 December 2004 |access-date=6 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625000052/http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/09/israel.government/index.html |archive-date=25 June 2009 }}</ref> On 27 September 2005, Sharon narrowly defeated a leadership challenge by a 52–48 percent vote. The move was initiated within the central committee of the governing Likud party by Sharon's main rival, [[Benjamin Netanyahu]], who 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 2005 to choose the party's leader.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

===Founding of Kadima===
On 21 November 2005, Sharon 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 December 2005, Sharon's longtime rival Netanyahu was elected his successor as leader of Likud.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sharon recovers as chief rival wins control of Likud |date=20 December 2005 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/20/israel |first=Conal |last=Urquhart |access-date=25 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829205312/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/20/israel |archive-date=29 August 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> Following Sharon's incapacitation, Ehud Olmert replaced Sharon as Kadima's leader, for the nearing general elections. Likud, along with the [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor Party]], were ''Kadima''{{'}}s chief rivals in the [[2006 Israel legislative election|March 2006 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.<ref name="Rees"/><ref name="timesofisrael.com"/><ref name="Terrorism 2013, page 9"/>

In the elections, which saw Israel's lowest-ever voter turnout of 64 percent<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.idi.org.il/sites/english/parliament/Pages/ElectionsfortheLocalAuthority.aspx |title=Elections for the Local Authority&nbsp;– Who, What, When, Where and How?&nbsp;– The Israel Democracy Institute |date=May 2008 |publisher=Idi.org.il |access-date=6 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727134615/http://www.idi.org.il/sites/english/parliament/Pages/ElectionsfortheLocalAuthority.aspx |archive-date=27 July 2011 }}</ref> (the number usually averages on the high 70%), Kadima, headed by Olmert, received the most Knesset seats, followed by Labor. The new governing coalition installed in May 2006 included Kadima, with Olmert as Prime Minister, Labor (including [[Amir Peretz]] as Defense Minister), the [[Pensioners' Party (Gil)]], the [[Shas]] religious party, and [[Israel Beytenu]].

===Alleged fundraising irregularities and Greek island affair===
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 1999 election campaign. In the Greek island affair, Sharon was accused of promising (during his term as Foreign Minister) to help Israeli businessman [[David Appel (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 1999 election fundraising scandal, Sharon was not charged with any wrongdoing, but his son [[Omri Sharon|Omri]], a Knesset member at the time, was charged and sentenced in 2006 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 Mazuz]], in 2005.

On 10 December 2005, Israeli police raided [[Martin Schlaff]]'s apartment in Jerusalem. Another suspect in the case was Robert Nowikovsky, an Austrian involved in Russian state-owned company [[Gazprom]]'s business activities in Europe.<ref name="AFP Schlaff">{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hF2cuPKuthlnLDUja9QFzqUv1CzQ |title=Austrian tycoon may face Israel charges: report |date=7 September 2010 |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910110500/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hF2cuPKuthlnLDUja9QFzqUv1CzQ |archive-date=10 September 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/95989 |author=Hillel Fendel |title=Police Say There's Evidence Linking Sharon to $3&nbsp;Million Bribe |publisher=[[Arutz Sheva]] |date=3 January 2006 |archive-date=19 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719082601/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/95989 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=gazoviki>{{cite news|date=13 September 2007 |url=http://robertamsterdam.com/2007/09/the_gazoviki_in_germany/ |title=A tale of gazoviki, money and greed |work=[[Stern (magazine)|Stern]] |archive-date=16 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816065821/http://robertamsterdam.com/2007/09/the_gazoviki_in_germany/  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/04/content_4004864.htm |title=Police have evidence Sharon's family takes bribes: TV |agency=[[Xinhua News Agency|Xinhua]] |date=4 January 2006 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609215018/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/04/content_4004864.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to ''Haaretz'', "The $3&nbsp;million that parachuted into Gilad and Omri Sharon's bank account toward the end of 2002 was transferred there in the context of a consultancy contract for development of kolkhozes (collective farms) in Russia. 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. It has its Vienna offices in the same building as Jurimex, which was behind the $1-million guarantee to the [[Yisrael Beiteinu]] party."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/weekend/special-report-the-schlaff-saga/the-schlaff-saga-money-flows-into-the-sharon-family-accounts-1.312801 |title=The Schlaff Saga / Money flows into the Sharon family accounts |newspaper=Haaretz |date=7 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105001347/http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/special-report-the-schlaff-saga/the-schlaff-saga-money-flows-into-the-sharon-family-accounts-1.312801 |archive-date=5 November 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 17 December, police found evidence of a $3&nbsp;million bribe paid to Sharon's sons. Shortly afterwards, Sharon had a stroke.<ref name="AFP Schlaff"/>

==Illness, incapacitation and death (2006–2014)==
{{Main|Death and state funeral of Ariel Sharon}}

{{Quote box
| quote = "I love life. I love all of it, and in fact I love food."
| source = —Ariel Sharon, 1982<ref name="Israel page 19-24"/>
| align = right
| width =
| bgcolor = #c6dbf7
}}
Sharon had been [[obesity|obese]] since the 1980s, and also had suspected chronic [[high blood pressure]] and [[high cholesterol]] – at {{convert|170|cm|ftin|abbr=on}} tall, he was reputed to weigh {{convert|115|kg|lbs|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-26-sharon-procedure_x.htm |title=Ariel Sharon to undergo heart procedure |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |author=Jim Hollander |date=26 December 2005 |access-date=16 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213194143/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-26-sharon-procedure_x.htm |url-status=live |archive-date=13 December 2013 }}</ref> Stories of Sharon's appetite and obesity were legendary in Israel. He would often joke about his love of food and expansive girth.<ref>{{cite news|agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/sharons-diet-becoming-a-weighty-matter/2005/12/21/1135032080315.html |title=Sharon's diet becoming a weighty matter |author=Ravi Nessman |place=Jerusalem |date=22 December 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051224194856/http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/sharons-diet-becoming-a-weighty-matter/2005/12/21/1135032080315.html |archive-date=24 December 2005 |url-status=live  }}</ref> His staff car would reportedly be stocked with snacks, vodka, and caviar.<ref name="Israel page 19-24"/> In October 2004, when asked why he did not wear a [[bulletproof vest]] despite frequent death threats, Sharon smiled and replied, "There is none that fits my size."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1864940_1864939_1864902,00.html |title=Top 10 Comas – The Big Sleep: Ariel Sharon |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |archive-date=13 September 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130913043349/http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0%2C28804%2C1864940_1864939_1864902%2C00.html  }}</ref> He was a daily consumer of cigars and luxury foods. Numerous attempts by doctors, friends, and staff to impose a balanced diet on Sharon were unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite book |title= Ariel Sharon: A Life in Times of Turmoil |author= [[Freddy Eytan]] and Robert Davies |year= 2006 |page=146}}</ref>

Sharon was hospitalized on 18 December 2005, following 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 2006. 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sharon's stroke blood 'drained' |work=BBC News |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4608100.stm |archive-date=11 February 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211215947/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4608100.stm |date=5 January 2006 }}</ref> Subsequent media reports indicated that Sharon had been diagnosed with [[cerebral amyloid angiopathy]] (CAA) during his December hospitalisation. 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark Willacy |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2006/01/10/1545220.htm |title=Israeli PM Sharon moves left side |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |date=10 January 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013102120/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2006/01/10/1545220.htm |archive-date=13 October 2007 }}</ref>

[[Ehud Olmert]] became [[Deputy Prime Minister of Israel#Acting Prime Minister|Acting Prime Minister]] the night of Sharon's second stroke, while Sharon officially remained in office. [[2006 Israeli legislative election|Knesset elections]] followed in March, with Olmert and Sharon's [[Kadima]] party winning a plurality. The next month, the Israeli Cabinet declared Sharon permanently incapacitated and Olmert became Interim Prime Minister on 14 April 2006 and Prime Minister in his own right on 4 May.

Sharon underwent a series of subsequent surgeries related to his state. In May 2006, he 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 [[Bloodstream infections|bacteria in his blood]], before returning to the long-term care facility on 6 November 2006. Sharon would remain at Sheba Medical Center until his death.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6120298.stm |title=Sharon leaves intensive care unit |work=BBC News |date=6 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116112304/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6120298.stm |archive-date=16 January 2007 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/26/sharon/|title=Hospital: Sharon taken to&nbsp;intensive care – Jul 26, 2006|publisher=CNN|access-date=5 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/ariel-sharon-transferred-to-long-term-treatment-in-tel-hashomer-1.188810|title=Ariel Sharon Transferred to Long-term Treatment in Tel Hashomer|first=Haaretz|last=Service|date=28 May 2006|access-date=5 April 2018|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref> Medical experts indicated that his [[cognition|cognitive]] abilities had likely been destroyed by the stroke.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/12-04-2006/79107-sharon-0/ |title=Ariel Sharon's sons to disconnect their father from life-support system |newspaper=Pravda |date=12 April 2006 |access-date=6 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605054545/http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/12-04-2006/79107-sharon-0/ |archive-date=5 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.theage.com.au/world/sharon-will-never-recover-doctors-20100105-ls9c.html |location= Melbourne |work= [[The Age]] |title=Sharon will never recover: doctors |date= 6 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100919025443/http://www.theage.com.au/world/sharon-will-never-recover-doctors-20100105-ls9c.html |archive-date= 19 September 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/ariel-sharon-transferred-to-long-term-treatment-in-tel-hashomer-1.188810 |title=Ariel Sharon transferred to long-term treatment in Tel HaShomer |date=28 May 2006 |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=28 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121204208/http://www.haaretz.com/news/ariel-sharon-transferred-to-long-term-treatment-in-tel-hashomer-1.188810 |archive-date=21 November 2010 |url-status=live  }}</ref> His condition worsened from late 2013, and Sharon suffered from [[renal failure]] on 1 January 2014.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/ariel-sharons-condition-deteriorates |title=Ariel Sharon's Condition Deteriorates |newspaper=The Times of Israel |access-date=1 January 2014 |archive-date=2 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102195820/http://www.timesofisrael.com/ariel-sharons-condition-deteriorates  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Doctors: End for Sharon Could Come 'Within Hours' |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/175830 |access-date=2 January 2014 |publisher=[[Arutz Sheva]] |date=2 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=2 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102192658/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/175830  }}</ref>

After spending eight years in a coma, Sharon died at 14:00 [[Israel Standard Time|local time]] (12:00 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]]) on 11 January 2014.<ref name=mourn>{{cite news|title=Israel mourns Sharon's passing; Netanyahu: He was a 'brave warrior' |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.568006/1.568006 |access-date=11 January 2014 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=11 January 2014 |archive-date=11 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111183002/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.568006/1.568006 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=11 January 2014 |access-date=11 January 2014 |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-sharon-death-idUSBREA0A09420140111 |author=Dan Williams |title=Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon dead at 85 |archive-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111132837/https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/11/us-israel-sharon-death-idUSBREA0A09420140111  }}</ref> [[Death and funeral of Ariel Sharon|Sharon's state funeral]] was held on 13 January in accordance with [[Jewish bereavement#Funeral service|Jewish burial customs]], which require that interment take place as soon after death as possible. His body [[lie in state|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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Obama: U.S. joins Israeli people in honoring Sharon's commitment to his country|access-date=11 January 2014|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.568018|newspaper=Haaretz|date=11 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Former prime minister Ariel Sharon dies at 85 |url=https://www.jpost.com/National-News/Former-prime-minister-Ariel-Sharon-dies-at-85-337662 |access-date=11 January 2014 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |author=Gil Hoffman, and Tovah Lazaroff |date=11 January 2014 |archive-date=11 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111165508/http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Former-prime-minister-Ariel-Sharon-dies-at-85-337662 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Israel's Ariel Sharon dies at 85 |access-date=11 January 2014 |date=11 January 2014 |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/israel-ariel-sharon-dies-at-85-201411231338785176.html |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111182244/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/israel-ariel-sharon-dies-at-85-201411231338785176.html |archive-date=11 January 2014 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Lily and Ariel Sharon in New York.jpg|thumb|Sharon and wife Lily Sharon in New York in 1974]]
Sharon was married twice, to two sisters, Margalit and Lily Zimmerman, who were from [[Romania]]. Sharon met Margalit in 1947 when she was 16, while she was tending a vegetable field, and married her in 1953, shortly after becoming a [[Drill instructor|military instructor]]. Margalit was a supervisory psychiatric nurse.<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://marriage.about.com/od/politics/p/arielsharon.htm|publisher=marriage.about.com|title=Marriages of Ariel Sharon|access-date=6 January 2017|archive-date=16 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816043737/http://marriage.about.com/od/politics/p/arielsharon.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> They had one son, Gur. Margalit died in a car accident in May 1962 and Gur died in October 1967, aged 11, after a friend accidentally shot him while the two children were playing with a rifle at the Sharon family home.<ref>{{cite news|date=15 February 2005 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/Middle-East-Conflict/Sharon-mourns-slain-son/2005/02/14/1108229937965.html |title=Sharon mourns slain son |access-date=15 April 2006 |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |archive-date=6 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506044705/http://www.smh.com.au/news/Middle-East-Conflict/Sharon-mourns-slain-son/2005/02/14/1108229937965.html |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/07/israel1 |title=The Bulldozer |date=7 November 2001 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |access-date=15 April 2006 |first=Emma |last=Brockes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825214643/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/07/israel1 |archive-date=25 August 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=CNN |url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/pitn/date/2003-06-14/segment/00 |title=The Quest for Peace |type=transcript |date=14 June 2003 |access-date=28 March 2006 |archive-date=16 February 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216025138/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0306/14/pitn.00.html  }}</ref> After Margalit's death, Sharon married her younger sister, Lily. They had two sons, [[Omri Sharon|Omri]] and Gilad, and six grandchildren.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ariel-sharon-dies-at-85-former-israeli-prime-minister-epitomized-countrys-warrior-past/2014/01/11/8da0ce6c-ffd3-11df-b0ed-379d1148ca53_story.html|author=Glenn Frankel|title=Ariel Sharon dies at 85: Former Israeli prime minister epitomized country's warrior past|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=11 January 2014}}</ref> Lily Sharon died of lung cancer in 2000.<ref name="Stevens">{{cite news|date=12 January 2014 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-11/ariel-sharon-israeli-bulldozer-who-vacated-gaza-dies-at-85.html |title=Ariel Sharon, Israeli Warrior Who Vacated Gaza, Dies at 85 |access-date=12 January 2014 |author=Ben-David, Calev |author2=Gwen |newspaper=[[Bloomberg News]] |archive-date=12 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112023513/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-11/ariel-sharon-israeli-bulldozer-who-vacated-gaza-dies-at-85.html |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Sharon's sister, Yehudit, known as "Dita", married Shmuel Mandel. In the 1950s, the couple permanently left Israel and emigrated to the United States. This caused a permanent rift in the family. Shmuel and Vera Scheinerman were greatly hurt by their daughter's choice to leave Israel. As a result, Vera Scheinerman willed only a small part of her estate to Dita, an act which enraged her. At one point, Dita decided to return to Israel, but after Vera was informed by the Israel Lands Administration that it would not be legally possible to split the family property between Ariel and Dita, and informed her that she would not be able to build a home there, Dita, believing she was being lied to, cut her family in Israel off and refused to attend the funerals of her mother and sister-in-law. She reestablished contact with the family after Sharon's stroke. Sharon's sister has rarely been mentioned in biographies of him: he himself rarely acknowledged her and only mentioned her twice in his autobiography.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/his-sometime-sister-1.22852|title=His Sometime Sister|date=5 April 2018|access-date=5 April 2018|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3198544,00.html|title=Sharon's 'lost sister' calls from America |author= Shiffer, Shimon |date=1 November 2006|work=[[Ynetnews]] |access-date=5 April 2018}}</ref>

==Legacy==
A hugely consequential figure, Sharon remains a highly polarizing figure as well. While generally considered a great general and statesman among Israelis, Palestinians and numerous media and political sources revile Sharon as a [[War crime|war criminal]].<ref>[[United Kingdom Parliament]]. [https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/21928/war-crimes-and-the-israeli-prime-minister-ariel-sharon War Crimes and the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon]. Retrieved 27 April 2023</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Carter|first=Chelsea J.|date=11 January 2014|title=Ariel Sharon: Hero or butcher? Five things to know|url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/11/world/meast/ariel-sharon-5-things/index.html|access-date=20 July 2023|publisher=CNN|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Muir|first=Hugh|date=4 March 2005|title=Sharon is war criminal says Livingstone|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/mar/04/london.israel|access-date=20 July 2023|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] has contended that Sharon should have been held criminally accountable for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and other abuses.<ref name="Human Rights Watch-2014">{{Cite web |date=2014-01-11 |title=Israel: Ariel Sharon's Troubling Legacy |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/11/israel-ariel-sharons-troubling-legacy |access-date=2022-07-22 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Human Rights Watch-2014-2">{{Cite web |date=2014-01-13 |title=Ariel Sharon's Legacy is Deeply Disturbing |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/13/ariel-sharons-legacy-deeply-disturbing |access-date=2022-07-22 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}</ref><ref name="The Guardian-2002">{{Cite web |date=2002-02-15 |title=Sharon cannot be tried in Belgium, says court |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/feb/15/israelandthepalestinians.unitednations |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Ariel Sharon Park]], an environmental park near Tel Aviv, is named for him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Ariel-Sharon-Park-transforms-eyesore-into-paradise |title=Ariel Sharon Park transforms 'eyesore' into 'paradise' |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|author=Sharon Udasin |date=16 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320014610/http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Ariel-Sharon-Park-transforms-eyesore-into-paradise |archive-date=20 March 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] |url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/InnovativeIsrael/Pages/Former_wasteland_future_ecological_wonderland-July_2011.aspx |title=Former wasteland, future ecological wonderland Ariel Sharon Park to be bigger than NYC's Central Park |date=20 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309185107/http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/InnovativeIsrael/Pages/Former_wasteland_future_ecological_wonderland-July_2011.aspx |archive-date=9 March 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the Negev desert, the IDF is currently building its city of training bases, [[Camp Ariel Sharon]]. In total, a NIS 50&nbsp;billion project,<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.583284 Israel to Issue Bonds to Pay for Mass Army Relocation] Meirav Arlosoroff 2 April 2014</ref> the city of bases is named after Ariel Sharon, the largest active construction project in Israel, it is to become the largest IDF base in Israel.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

==Overview of offices held==
Sharon served as prime minister (Israel's [[head of government]]) from 7 March 2001 through 14 April 2006 (with Ehud Olmert serving as ''acting'' prime minister beginning 4 January 2006, after Sharon slipped into a coma).<ref>{{Cite news |last=קליין |first=זאב |date=11 April 2006 |title=שרון הוגדר כבעל "נבצרות קבועה"; אהוד אולמרט - ראש הממשלה בפועל |work=Globes |url=https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000082788 |access-date=18 June 2022}}</ref> As prime minister he led the [[Twelfth government of Israel|12th government]] during the [[List of members of the fifteenth Knesset|15th Knesset]] and the [[Thirteenth government of Israel|13th government]] during the [[List of members of the sixteenth Knesset|16th Knesset]].

Sharon served in the Knesset, first for several months in 1973, and later from 1977 through 2006. Sharon. From July 1999 through July 2000, Sharon served as the unofficial/honorary [[Leader of the Opposition (Israel)|Knesset's opposition leader]]. Thereafter, from July 2000 through March 2001, he served as the first official designated Knesset opposition leader.

Sharon was the leader of the [[Shlomtzion (political party)|Shlomtzion]] party from its 1976 founding until its 1977 merger into Likud. Sharon served as leader of the Likud party from 1999 through 2005, leaving to create Kadima which he led from 2005 through early 2006 (when he fell into a coma).

In addition to these positions and his ministerial roles, Sharon also served as a special aide to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin from June 1975 through March 1976.

===Ministerial posts===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Ministerial posts
|-
! Ministerial post !! Tenure !! Prime Minister(s) !! Government(s) !! Predecessor !! Successor
|-
| [[Ministry of Agriculture (Israel)|Minister of Agriculture]] || 20 June 1977 – 5 August 1981 || [[Menachem Begin]] || [[Eighteenth government of Israel|18]] || [[Aharon Uzan]] || [[Simha Erlich]]
|-
| [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Minister of Defense]] || 5 August 1981 – 14 February 1983 || Menachem Begin || [[Nineteenth government of Israel|19]] || Menachem Begin || Menachem Begin
|-
| [[Minister without portfolio]] || 14 February 1983 – 13 September 1984 || Menachem Begin {{small|(until 10 October 1983)}}<br>[[Yitzhak Shamir]] {{small|(from 10 October 1983)}} || 19, [[Twentieth government of Israel|20]] || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}}
|-
| [[Ministry of Industry and Trade (Israel)|Minister of Industry and Trade]] || 13 September 1984 – 20 February 1990 || [[Yitzhak Rabin]] {{small|(until 20 October 1986)}}<br>Yitzhak Shamir {{Small|(from 20 October 1986)}} || [[Twenty-first government of Israel|21]], [[Twenty-second government of Israel|22]], [[Twenty-third government of Israel|23]] || [[Gideon Patt]] || [[Moshe Nissim]]
|-
| [[Ministry of Housing and Construction|Minister of Housing and Construction]] || 11 June 1990 – 13 July 1992 || Yitzhak Shamir || [[Twenty-fourth government of Israel|24]] || [[David Levy (Israeli politician)|David Levy]] || [[Binyamin Ben-Eliezer]]
|-
| [[Ministry of National Infrastructures|Minister of National Infrastructure]] || 8 July 1996 – 6 July 1999 || [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] || [[Twenty-seventh government of Israel|27]] || [[Yitzhak Levy]] || [[Eli Suissa]]
|-
| [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] (first tenure) || 13 October 1998 – 6 June 1999 || Benjamin Netanyahu || 27 || Benjamin Netanyahu || David Levy
|-
| [[Ministry of Immigrant Absorption|Minister of Immigrant Absorption]] || 7 March 2001 – 28 February 2003 || ''Ariel Sharon'' || [[Twenty-ninth government of Israel|29]] || [[Yuli Tamir]] || [[Tzipi Livni]]
|-
| Minister of Industry and Trade (second tenure) || 2 November 2002 – 28 February 2003 || ''Ariel Sharon'' || 29 || [[Dalia Itzik]] || [[Ehud Olmert]]
|-
| Minister of Foreign Affairs (second tenure) || 2 October 2002 – 6 November 2002 || ''Ariel Sharon'' || 29 || [[Shimon Peres]] || Benjamin Netanyahu
|-
| [[Ministry of Communications (Israel)|Minister of Communications]] || 28 February 2003 – 17 August 2003 || ''Ariel Sharon'' || [[Thirtieth government of Israel|30]] || [[Reuven Rivlin]] || Ehud Olmert
|-
| [[Ministry of Religious Affairs (Israel)|Minister of Religious Affairs]] || 28 February 2003 – 31 December 2003 || ''Ariel Sharon'' || 30 || [[Asher Ohana]] || [[Yitzhak Cohen]]
|}

==Electoral history==
===2001 direct election for Prime Minister===
{{Election box begin no change|title=[[2001 Israeli prime ministerial election]]<ref>[[Dieter Nohlen]], Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook, Volume I'', p134 {{ISBN|978-0-19-924958-9}}</ref>}}
 {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
   |candidate  = Ariel Sharon
   |party      = Likud
   |votes      = 1,698,077
   |percentage = 62.38
 }}
 {{Election box candidate with party link no change
   |candidate  = [[Ehud Barak]] (incumbent)
   |party      = Israeli Labor Party
   |votes      = 1,023,944
   |percentage = 37.62
 }}
 {{Election box turnout no change
   |votes      = 2,722,021
   |percentage = 62.29
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

===Party leadership elections===
{{Election box begin no party no change|title=[[1984 Herut leadership election]]<ref name="BeatsStrongSharonBid">{{cite web |title=Shamir Beats Strong SharonBid To Win Party's Prime Minister Candidacy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/368893498 |via=Newspapers.com |publisher=Hartford Courant |agency=United Press International |access-date=13 February 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=13 April 1984}}</ref>}}
 {{Election box winning candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = [[Yitzhak Shamir]] (incumbent)
   |votes      = 407
   |percentage = 56.45
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = Ariel Sharon
   |votes      = 306
   |percentage = 42.44
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = Aryeh Chertok
   |votes      = 8
   |percentage = 1.11
 }}
 {{Election box total no party no change
   |votes      = 721
   |percentage = 100
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no party no change|title=[[1992 Likud leadership election]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burston |first1=Bradley |title=Shamir retains leadership of Likud as election nears |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/175147988 |via=Newspapers.com |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=[[Reuters]] |access-date=8 February 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=21 February 1992}}</ref>}}
 {{Election box winning candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = [[Yitzhak Shamir]] (incumbent)
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 46.4
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = [[David Levy (Israeli politician)|David Levy]]
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 31.2
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = Ariel Sharon
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 22.3
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no party no change|title=[[September 1999 Likud leadership election]]<ref name="Kenig">{{cite journal |last1=Kenig |first1=Ofer |title=Democratizing Party Leadership Selection in Israel: A Balance Sheet |journal=Israel Studies Forum |year=2009 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=62–81 |jstor=41805011 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41805011 |access-date=25 January 2022 |issn=1557-2455}}</ref>}}
 {{Election box winning candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = Ariel Sharon
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 53
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = [[Ehud Olmert]]
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 24
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = [[Meir Sheetrit]]
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 22
 }}
 {{Election box turnout no party no change
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 34.8
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no party no change|title=[[2002 Likud leadership election]]<ref name="Kenig"/>}}
 {{Election box winning candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = Ariel Sharon (incumbent)
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 55.9
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 40.1
 }}
 {{Election box candidate no party no change
   |candidate  = [[Moshe Feiglin]]
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 3.5
 }}
 {{Election box turnout no party no change
   |votes      = 
   |percentage = 46.2
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|40em}}
*Ben Shaul, Moshe (editor); ''Generals of Israel'', Tel-Aviv: Hadar Publishing House, Ltd., 1968.
*Uri Dan; ''Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait'', Palgrave Macmillan, October 2006, 320 pages. {{ISBN|978-1-4039-7790-8}}.
*Ariel Sharon, with [[David Chanoff]]; ''Warrior: The Autobiography of Ariel Sharon'', Simon & Schuster, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-671-60555-1}}.
*Gilad Sharon, (translated by Mitch Ginsburg); ''Sharon: The Life of a Leader'', HarperCollins Publishers, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-06-172150-2}}.
*Nir Hefez, Gadi Bloom, (translated by Mitch Ginsburg); ''Ariel Sharon: A Life'', Random House, October 2006, 512 pages, {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6587-5}}.
*Freddy Eytan, (translated by Robert Davies); ''Ariel Sharon: A Life in Times of Turmoil'', translation of ''Sharon: le bras de fer'', Studio 8 Books and Music, 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-55207-092-5}}.
*[[Abraham Rabinovich]]; ''The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East'', 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-8052-1124-5}}.
*Ariel Sharon, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070703022204/http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/2/Ariel%20Sharon official biography], Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
*{{cite book|title=The Suez Crisis 1956|last=Varble|first=Derek|year=2003|publisher= Osprey|location=London|isbn=978-1-84176-418-4}}
*Tzvi T. Avisar; ''Sharon: Five years forward'', Publisher House, March 2011, 259 pages, [http://www.sharon.org.il/ Official website], {{ISBN|978-965-91748-0-5}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|voy=no}}
*{{MKlink|id=125}}
*{{C-SPAN|10001}}
*Three recordings from Sharon's Military Career, published by [[Israel State Archives]]:
*{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov.il/ArchiveGov_Eng/Publications/ElectronicPirsum/ArikSharonMovies1/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305142020/http://archives.gov.il/archivegov_eng/publications/electronicpirsum/ariksharonmovies1|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 March 2016|title=ארכיון המדינה|access-date=6 January 2017}}
*{{webarchive |title=The Kahan Commission on Sabra and Shatila massacre, published by Israel State Archives
|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911212745/https://www.archives.gov.il/ArchiveGov_Eng/Publications/ElectronicPirsum/KahanCommission/}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Ehud Barak]]}}
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{{s-aft|after=[[Ehud Olmert]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Benjamin Netanyahu]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Likud|Chairman of Likud]]|years=1999–2005}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Benjamin Netanyahu]]}}
{{s-new|reason=Party founded}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Kadima|Chairman of Kadima]]|years=2005–2006}}
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{{s-end}}

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{{#related:Likud}}
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