Ariel Sharon
1928-
by Neil Lazarus
Ariel Sharon is standing for the Israeli
premiership and recent polls are showing that Ehud Barak now has
a serious rival for his premiership, although the surveys probably
overstate the gap.
Ariel Sharon was born at Kfar Malal in 1928.
His first military experience came when he joined the Haganah
at the age of 14. He was only 20 in when he commanded an infantry
company in the Alexandroni Brigade1948, during Israel’s War of
Independence.
Sharon’s reputation as a military hero grew
in 1953, when he founded and led the "101" special commando unit
which carried out retaliatory operations against terrorist locations.
His military prowess was demonstrated in 1967 during Israel’s
Six Day War, when he commanded an armored division. Two years
later, Sharon was promoted to Head of the Southern Command Staff.
Considering his chances of being appointed
Chief of Staff to be slim, Sharon resigned from the IDF (Israeli
Army) in June 1972, but was recalled to military service in the
1973 Yom Kippur War to command an armored division on the southern
front.
Ariel Sharon entered political life after
the Yom Kippur War. He was elected to the Knesset in December
1973, but resigned a year later. Two years later, Sharon acted
as a Security Adviser in Yitzhak Rabin’s first government.
As a result of the Yom Kippur War and following
the Rabin resignation in1976, Sharon shared the prevailing disillusionment
against the Labor establishment and decided to form a new party,
which he called Shlomzion. His party gained two seats in the subsequent
1977 elections. In the same elections, the Likud Party came to
power in Israel for the first time: Sharon disbanded the Shlomzion
Party and joined the Likud.
Prime Minister Menahem Begin appointed him
Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee
for settlements until 1981. With the rise of the political right
in Israel and the growth of messianic Zionism, Sharon began to
identify himself increasingly with the Gush Emunim movement and
used his position to encourage the building of settlements. Since
then, he has been considered by the settler movement to be the
champion of their cause, although he was involved in the return
of Yamit in the Peace Agreement with Egypt.
Sharon’s reputation was tainted during the
Lebanon War, when he served as Minister of Defense from 1981-83.
Indeed, the Barak campaign is intending to highlight Sharon’s
role in the war and the findings of the Kahan Commission of Inquiry
on the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla.
From 1984-90, Sharon served as Minister
of Industry and Trade, and from 1990-92 as the Minister of Housing
and Construction. In the 13th Knesset, he served on the Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee.
In July 1996, he was appointed Minister
of National Infrastructure in a compromise with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. After the resignation of David Levy, Sharon
was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Sharon’s political career peaked when he
was appointed the head of the Likud, after the defeat of Netanyahu
in the 1999 elections. He has been influential in rebuilding the
strength of the Likud since its major loss of Knesset seats in
1999.
Notes on the Sharon
Election Campaign:
These elections are between two warriors
and former Generals, whose mental outlook has been shaped by their
military careers, but whose political careers have diversified.
Since late 2000, Ariel Sharon has been creating
an Israeli media image as a soft- spoken moderate on all issues,
avoiding the most contentious of them.
- Sharon is a leader who can bring personal and public security
as a sine qua non to working towards a Peace Process; he will
work to bring unity to the country;
- Peace with the Palestinians and the Arab states can only be
negotiated from firm positions which address Israel’s interests
and principles (he had also said, but ceased stating: “and
there will be painful concessions”): Israel’s settlements
and the Jordan Valley will not be conceded to the PA; Jerusalem
will not be divided; there will be no acknowledgement of the
Right of Return for Palestinian refugees;
- There cannot be negotiations while terror continues, there
should be no “rewards” for violence, for which the PA bears
responsibility;
- Barak and his minority government have no legitimacy to negotiate
after his resignation or to set parameters on far-reaching
concessions which would have international recognition and
to which a subsequent government would not be able to commit
– and a Likud government would not respect them;
- The campaign is avoiding aggressive criticism of Ehud Barak,
but might extend to being critical of his role in the Battle
of Sultan Yacoub, during the 1982 Lebanon War.
- The Sharon campaign is using disillusioned center-left voters
to say why they are switching to Ariel Sharon, emphasizing
their need for personal security; the main population of floating
voters is the Russian olim and it is therefore focusing on
issues important to them.
Links:
Biography:
Policies and Election Campaign:
Knesset Committees Simulation: Position Papers on
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