Ariel Sharon was born Ariel Scheinermann in 1928 in Kfar Malal and joined the Haganah at age 14. He went on to serve in the IDF for 25 years, leading the Alexandroni Brigade in the War of Independence, commanding a paratroop brigade in 1956, fighting in the Sinai Campaign and commanding an armored division in the Six Day War. He was assigned special unit 101 by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion tasked with reprisal attacks (this included the 1953 Qibya massacre). After retiring from the military, he was recalled to service in the Yom Kippur War (1973) and led the crossing of the Suez Canal. He was elected to Knesset in December 1973 but resigned to serve as security advisor to Yitzchak Rabin. He returned in 1977 to serve in Menachem Begin’s government. In 1981 he was appointed Defense Minister and oversaw the Lebanon War (1982) intended to root out PLO terrorists from the country. An official Israeli inquiry found that he bore personal responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacre perpetrated by a Christian-Lebanese militia during that war. Over the next 20 years, he served as Minister of various government portfolios and government committees, developing international trade, bringing Ethiopian Jews through the Sudan, building houses for hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrants and working towards peace in the region. After Sharon was elected Prime Minister in 2001, he released a statement affirming the Israeli government’s determination to achieve peace with its Palestinian neighbors, which was followed by acceptance of the US’s ‘road-map’ for the solution to the conflict (2003). In 2005 he presided over Israel’s disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria, dismantling settlements he had encouraged. On January 4, 2006 Sharon suffered a stroke. He never regained consciousness and passed away eight years later.