Body of Ariel Sharon to lie in state at Israeli parliament before funeral
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a decorated warrior who also took steps for peace, died Saturday, January 11, after eight years in a coma. Sharon was 85. The former general suffered a stroke in January 2006 and has been hospitalized since. Here, he meets with Israeli journalists in Tel Aviv a month before the stroke.
Sharon, born on a farm outside of Tel Aviv, began working with the Haganah, a militant group advocating for Israel's independence, after graduating from high school in 1945. He's shown as a young commander in the Alexandroni Brigade of the fledgling Israeli army in 1948.
Ariel Sharon addresses troops of Unit 101 before their attack on Khan Yunis in what was formerly known as the Gaza Strip on August 30, 1955. Sharon had established the elite commando group two years before. The officer-turned-politician had a career marked with victories and controversies.
By February 1966, when this photo was taken, Sharon was an Israeli military hero. Sharon rose through the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces and was a major general during 1967's Six-Day War, which ended with Israel notably, if controversially, expanding its territory.
In June 1967, Sharon led his tank battalion to a crushing victory over the Egyptians in the Sinai during the Six-Day War. Here, he witnesses an aerial attack.
Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion is briefed in 1971 by Sharon in a trench near the Suez Canal in the Sinai.
Defense Minister Moshe Dayan (left) visits with a bandaged Sharon during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 on the western bank of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Sharon said his greatest military success came during that war. He surrounded Egypt's Third Army and, defying orders, led 200 tanks and 5,000 men over the Suez Canal, a turning point.
Sharon transitioned into government, including stints as military adviser, agriculture minister and defense minister. Here, he and Prime Minister Menachem Begin attend a Knesset meeting in June 1977.
Sharon with his son, Gilad, and wife, Lily, during a stop in Egypt in 1979.
An official Israeli inquiry found Sharon indirectly responsible for the September 1982 killings of as many as 2,000 Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps outside of Beirut, Lebanon. The report -- which led to Sharon's prompt resignation -- determined the then-defense minister did nothing to stop Christian militiamen allied with Israel from entering the camps. Here, demonstrators are seen near Prime Minister Menachem Begin's home in Jerusalem, calling for the resignations of Begin and Sharon.
Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, in combat helmet and flak jacket, leads his troops toward a meeting with Christian forces in East Beirut in June 1982. Israel had invaded southern Lebanon in retaliation for an assassination attempt linked to the group Abu Nidal.
Sharon, no longer in the Israeli military, stands at the future site of a settlement in Gaza in February 1990.
Serving as foreign minister, Ariel Sharon talks with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the October 1998 Middle East peace summit in Maryland.
Sharon made a political comeback in the 1990s, eventually becoming leader of the Likud party in 2000. In February 2001, the prime minister-elect touches the ancient stones of the Western Wall as he prays at Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem. He took office the following month.
The prime minister, at a March 2002 media briefing in Jerusalem, announces a widespread army operation against what he called Palestinian terrorism. He spoke out against Yasser Arafat, then a key Palestinian leader. Sharon said that Israel considered Arafat an enemy and that he would be completely isolated "at this stage.''
In June 2003, Sharon, right, met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, left, and U.S. President George W. Bush to discuss a Middle East "road map" for peace. After the meeting, Sharon expressed his "strong support" for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sharon sits alone as he waits for other Knesset members to arrive for a vote on March 28, 2005. Sharon pushed for Israel's historic 2005 withdrawal from 25 settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, which was turned over to Palestinian rule for the first time in 38 years.
Immediately after he fell ill in early 2006, Sharon's prime minister power was transferred to Vice Premier Ehud Olmert. Sharon is shown only weeks before his devastating stroke.
The politician pays a visit to his Negev Desert farm in early 2006.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert looks toward the empty chair of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a note is passed to him during a special meeting of the cabinet in April 2006. Israel's Cabinet declared Sharon permanently incapacitated, a decision marking the official end of his five-year tenure. Sharon suffered his stroke in January 2006 and was in a coma.
The body of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will lie in state at the nation's parliament Sunday, where citizens can pay their respects ahead of a memorial service.
Sharon, born on a farm outside of Tel Aviv, began working with the Haganah, a militant group advocating for Israel's independence, after graduating from high school in 1945. He's shown as a young commander in the Alexandroni Brigade of the fledgling Israeli army in 1948.
Ariel Sharon addresses troops of Unit 101 before their attack on Khan Yunis in what was formerly known as the Gaza Strip on August 30, 1955. Sharon had established the elite commando group two years before. The officer-turned-politician had a career marked with victories and controversies.
By February 1966, when this photo was taken, Sharon was an Israeli military hero. Sharon rose through the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces and was a major general during 1967's Six-Day War, which ended with Israel notably, if controversially, expanding its territory.
In June 1967, Sharon led his tank battalion to a crushing victory over the Egyptians in the Sinai during the Six-Day War. Here, he witnesses an aerial attack.
Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion is briefed in 1971 by Sharon in a trench near the Suez Canal in the Sinai.
Defense Minister Moshe Dayan (left) visits with a bandaged Sharon during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 on the western bank of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Sharon said his greatest military success came during that war. He surrounded Egypt's Third Army and, defying orders, led 200 tanks and 5,000 men over the Suez Canal, a turning point.
Sharon transitioned into government, including stints as military adviser, agriculture minister and defense minister. Here, he and Prime Minister Menachem Begin attend a Knesset meeting in June 1977.
Sharon with his son, Gilad, and wife, Lily, during a stop in Egypt in 1979.
An official Israeli inquiry found Sharon indirectly responsible for the September 1982 killings of as many as 2,000 Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps outside of Beirut, Lebanon. The report -- which led to Sharon's prompt resignation -- determined the then-defense minister did nothing to stop Christian militiamen allied with Israel from entering the camps. Here, demonstrators are seen near Prime Minister Menachem Begin's home in Jerusalem, calling for the resignations of Begin and Sharon.
Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, in combat helmet and flak jacket, leads his troops toward a meeting with Christian forces in East Beirut in June 1982. Israel had invaded southern Lebanon in retaliation for an assassination attempt linked to the group Abu Nidal.
Sharon, no longer in the Israeli military, stands at the future site of a settlement in Gaza in February 1990.
Serving as foreign minister, Ariel Sharon talks with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the October 1998 Middle East peace summit in Maryland.
Sharon made a political comeback in the 1990s, eventually becoming leader of the Likud party in 2000. In February 2001, the prime minister-elect touches the ancient stones of the Western Wall as he prays at Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem. He took office the following month.
The prime minister, at a March 2002 media briefing in Jerusalem, announces a widespread army operation against what he called Palestinian terrorism. He spoke out against Yasser Arafat, then a key Palestinian leader. Sharon said that Israel considered Arafat an enemy and that he would be completely isolated "at this stage.''
In June 2003, Sharon, right, met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, left, and U.S. President George W. Bush to discuss a Middle East "road map" for peace. After the meeting, Sharon expressed his "strong support" for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sharon sits alone as he waits for other Knesset members to arrive for a vote on March 28, 2005. Sharon pushed for Israel's historic 2005 withdrawal from 25 settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, which was turned over to Palestinian rule for the first time in 38 years.
Immediately after he fell ill in early 2006, Sharon's prime minister power was transferred to Vice Premier Ehud Olmert. Sharon is shown only weeks before his devastating stroke.
The politician pays a visit to his Negev Desert farm in early 2006.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert looks toward the empty chair of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a note is passed to him during a special meeting of the cabinet in April 2006. Israel's Cabinet declared Sharon permanently incapacitated, a decision marking the official end of his five-year tenure. Sharon suffered his stroke in January 2006 and was in a coma.
Sharon, a towering military and political leader, died Saturday surrounded by family after years eight years in a coma. He was 85
A convoy of cars carried his coffin to the Knesset, where President Shimon Peres will lay a wreath on it.
After the viewing, a state memorial ceremony is planned for Monday. World leaders including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former British leader Tony Blair will attend the memorial, which will be followed by a funeral procession.
The latter will include a stop in Latrun for a special meeting of the Israel Defense Forces that will end with a military funeral at Sharon's ranch, Shikmim.
In remarks Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him as a warrior and a political leader.
"The state of Israel bows its head on the passing of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon," Netanyahu said in a statement. "Ariel Sharon played a central role in the struggle for the security of the State of Israel over all its years."
The same decisions that made him a controversial figure during his lengthy tenure as a military man and politician were back on display in the initial reactions to his death.
These moments include his role as defense minister during the 1982 war in Lebanon. During that conflict, he was held indirectly responsible by an Israeli inquiry in 1983 for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. He was forced to resign.
He also raised ire in the Arab world by encouraging Israelis to build settlements on occupied Palestinian land, but later did an about-face and pushed for the historic withdrawal from settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, which were turned over to Palestinian rule for the first time in nearly four decades.
President Shimon Peres made an address eulogizing his "dear friend Arik Sharon," calling him by his well-known nickname.
"He was an outstanding man and an exceptional commander who moved his people and loved them. And the people loved him," Peres said.
But Hamas, the Palestinian movement that runs Gaza, paints Sharon with a darker legacy.
"We deal with the death of Sharon as an end for the crimes he committed against the Palestinian people," said Israr Almodallal, spokesman for Hamas in Gaza. "The biggest crime was the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, and we deal with Sharon as a criminal person.
"We will not forgive Sharon any way or another," he said.
At the Baddawi refugee camp in northern Lebanon, Sharon's death was marked with long bursts of shooting into the air, the Lebanese state-run NNA news agency said.
President Barack Obama offered condolences to Sharon and the Israeli people. But his statement did not single out any milestones in the late prime minister's life for praise besides noting that Sharon dedicated his life to Israel.
"We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security," Obama said.
Secretary of State John Kerry offered a nuanced statement.
"During his years in politics, it is no secret that there were times the United States had differences with him. But whether you agreed or disagreed with his positions -- and Arik was always crystal clear about where he stood -- you admired the man who was determined to ensure the security and survival of the Jewish State."
To make Israel stronger, Sharon recognized that peace is necessary, Kerry said.
Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to Sharon's memorial service, though details of the funeral have not been announced.
Sharon was involved in every Israeli war dating to 1948, and he was remembered as a fierce fighter. He believed strongly that in order for Israel to survive, a strong army was needed.
He had a reputation as a hawk, but he moved in a more moderate direction as prime minister.
The office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, released a statement focusing on his shift toward negotiations with the Palestinians.
Sharon "will be remembered for his political courage and determination to carry through with the painful and historic decision to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip. His successor faces the difficult challenge of realizing the aspirations of peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people," the statement said.
French President Francois Hollande offered his condolences, also emphasizing his actions at the end of his career.
"After a long military and political career, he made the choice to turn towards dialogue with the Palestinians," Hollande said in a statement.
The reaction from Russian President Vladimir Putin was less specific and, overall, laudatory for Sharon's contributions to Israel and toward fostering Israeli-Russian relations.
"The President of Russia highly praised Ariel Sharon's personal qualities, his activity to uphold the interests of Israel, noting the respect he enjoyed among his compatriots and internationally," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Critics continued to evoke the 1982 war in Lebanon.
"It's a shame that Sharon has gone to his grave without facing justice for his role in Sabra and Shatilla and other abuses," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "His passing is another grim reminder that years of virtual impunity for rights abuses have done nothing to bring Israeli-Palestinian peace any closer."
Khaled Abu Al Noor, head of the Democratic Front, a Palestinian faction, described Sharon as "a murderer."
"He is responsible for the massacre of many Palestinian children, women and elderly. We call on the international community to try him under international law even after his death."
Sharon's son, Gilad, thanked the people who cared for his father in the hospital and those who prayed for him.
"He was the one who decided when he would go," Gilad said.
