Ariel Sharon was a prominent figure. He was loved and hated, he was admired and treated as a hero, he was cursed not only by his Arab enemies but also by adherents of ultra-left and ultra-right forces inside Israel. He was a source of irritation and an object of national pride for his countrymen. Ariel Sharon’s personal character was formed by a specific epoch that demanded courage and heroism and at the same time did not put restraints on the use of any military and political means. He lived his life in a struggle for building the State of Israel, for its consolidation, in a fight with challenges that this State had been facing.

Sharon passed a long way in the army, and became a well-known military leader, and was glorified for his struggle with Arab armies on the battlefields, and for his war on terrorism. The Israel citizens seen him as a defender, that can ensure the safety of people. The majority voted for him during the Second Intifada of the 2000. At that epoch the suicide bombers have come on the foreground and the society was seeking for a strong hand and believed in its “Arik” as in the savior.

Being in the army, Sharon sometimes undertook reckless decisions, although mostly won, than lost. His tank breakthrough through the Suez Canal and the raid in Egyptian rear during the war of 1973 are studied in military academies.

During his military career he spilled much blood, and it was not always justified. It’s enough to recall the Israeli invasion in Lebanon in 1982, when Ariel Sharon occupied the post of the Minister of Defense, or endless bombardments of Beirut, or a bloody story in Sabra and Shatila, when Christian militia slaughtered Palestinians in refugee camps, and the Israeli army has done nothing to stop its allies.

Later there were investigations in Israel, claims to the International Court, and Sharon’s career was heavily hurt, but things gradually returned to normal. He has made a bright political career finally taking the prime minister seat.

And here we see slightly other Sharon, who has not betrayed his principles but who has changed the means to achieve his goals. All his life he was trying to assure the security of Israel, to achieve a stable arrival of immigrants and to make Israel a viable state that nobody could threaten. These were his priorities. They meant both the creation of the settlements and the pressure on the Palestinians and on the Arab countries. However new political reality and new high level of responsibility mad him make adjustments to his tactical steps.

Sharon, being one of the most strenuous supporters of the settlement policy, has made unpopular decision, not among the majority of population, but among the most right wing members of his own party, members of several religious parties and the Settlement Council. He assured the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip – the army and the settlers left the Strip, it was a very considerate turn.

Sharon, obviously, considered strengthening of Israel as the most important task, while Gaza was useless for that – one more bane. The decision of the PM meant his reluctance to negotiate with the Palestinians, disbelief for the ability to achieve any results profitable to the Israeli and firm believe in the idea that the Israeli leaders should unilaterally decide which territories are needed for the state. The paradox in such approach is thet leaving Gaza Sharon was demolishing the settlements which he had been forcing, building and supporting himself, though he had never questioned the necessity to build them on the West Bank.

It is often asked now, why do we speak so much about Ariel Sharon. He had left his political life long ago, and he has been severely struggling for his life for very long. The discussions, which have recently arouse, prove that Sharon has taken a whole epoch with him. He was one of the few left from his generation, who made all their best to establish the Israeli state on the map, to make it strong and viable. There is no such figure in the Israel now, as the time gives birth to its own heroes. Moshe Dayan, Yigal Allon, Yitzhak Rabin, Ezer Weizman, Ariel Sharon were the military, who became politicians and who were following different political views, but who chose the most important role in the life – the service to their people and state. Ariel Sharon was so ill and was leaving for so long that all his hard critics have become silent long ago. Many Israelis remembered him with gratitude and forgot and forgave his wrongdoings and mistakes which were due to his hard and tough spirit, but which lacked greed.

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