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Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon (Hebrew: ×רי×ל שרון‎, also known by his diminutive Arik ×ַריק) (born Ariel Scheinermann (×רי×ל ×©×™×™× ×¨×ž×Ÿ) on February 26, 1928) is a former Israeli Prime Minister and military leader. Sharon served as Prime Minister from March 2001 until April 2006, though he was unable to carry out his duties after suffering a stroke on January 4, 2006. At that time, Sharon fell into a coma and is now in a persistent vegetative state.
Some of his critics have sought to prosecute him as a war criminal for crimes related to the Sabra and Shatila massacre during the 1982 Lebanon War. The Kahan Commission held him personally responsible for the entry of the Lebanese Falangist militias into the Palestinian camp—circumstances which permitted the perpetration of a massacre as reaction to the killing of the Lebanese elected president Bashir Jemayel. Sharon lost his post as Defense Minister as a result, but remained in the cabinet as minister without portfolio. Sharon continued as a leading figure in the Likud Party, and held various senior cabinet and party posts, ultimately becoming party leader in 1999 and Prime Minister in 2001.
During his tenure as Prime Minister, Sharon's policies caused a rift within the Likud Party, and he ultimately left Likud to form a new party called Kadima. He became the first Prime Minister of Israel who did not belong to either Labor or Likud (the two parties that have traditionally dominated Israeli politics). The new party created by Sharon, with Ehud Olmert having stepped in as its leader, after Sharon fell ill in the midst of election season, won the most Knesset seats in the 2006 elections, and is now the senior coalition partner in the Israeli government.
