Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies at 85

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

JERUSALEM (AP) — The son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says his father has died.

 

The 85-year-old Sharon had been in a coma since a debilitating stroke eight years ago. The Sheba Medical Center that has been treating Sharon said last week that his health has been declining. Sharon had been suffered from failure vital organs including his kidneys shortly before his death.

 

His son Gilad Sharon said: "He has gone. He went when he decided to go."

[Valin]

Playlist

[nickydog]

He was in a coma for eight years??

[Valin]

Senior Palestinian Official Lashes Out At Sharon For “Assassination of Arafat”
TheTower.org Staff
01.11.14 11:49 am

Al Jazeera’s story on the death of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leads with two quotes, one from sitting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one from Fatah senior official Jibril Rajoub. Netanyahu’s quote is circumspect and expresses “deep sorrow.” The quote from Rajoub, less so:

 

 

But a senior Palestinian official from the Fatah party blamed Sharon for the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. “Sharon was a criminal, responsible for the assassination of Arafat, and we would have hoped to see him appear before the International Criminal Court as a war criminal,” Jibril Rajub said.

 

 

The gesture toward Arafat is to the conspiracy theory that the deceased Palestinian leader was poisoned with polonium by Israeli agents. A series of controversial forensic investigations were conducted on Arafat’s remains in 2012, though there were and are mathematically zero plausible scenarios under which those investigations could have discovered that the Palestinian terrorist was poisoned with polonium. The results inevitably converged on the conclusion that he had died of natural causes.

[Valin]

Ariel Sharon: His Eye Was Not Dim

Elliott Abrams

01.01.14

 

Ariel Sharon often seemed bluff and simple, and he would play that role: in discussions with his kitchen cabinet down at his ranch (they called it the farm forum), he would react to some erudite advice by saying: I am a simple farmer, not a professor. Explain that again, in simple terms so even I can understand it.

 

But Sharon was not so simple: he was at different times clever, smart, devious, emotional, unemotional, funny, dry, tough, compromising, unyielding. He was a pariah who transformed himself by the end of his public career into an extremely successful politician and widely admired statesman. Nicknamed the bulldozer for both his physical appearance and his military tactics, in politics he was unpredictable and wily. A hero of the right for decades until his decision to withdraw from Gaza in 2005, the father of the settlements pulled all the settlements out of Gaza and became very briefly the hero of the peace camp. This founder of the Likud Party pulled Likud apart and founded a new party called Kadima when his plans required it. At one point he lacked a majority in his own cabinet to pass the Gaza withdrawal plan, so he summoned two unconvinced ministers to his officeto fire them so he would have the majority in a smaller cabinet. They knew what was coming so they refused to meet with him, whereupon he fired them by fax. It was not easy to get around Ariel Sharon once he had made up his mind.

 

All these contradictions made him a fascinating man to watch and to deal with. Yet he really was, I think, a simple man at root. He saw himself as a Jew whose job it was to protect the Jewish state. In early 2003, President George W. Bush sent deputy national security advisor Steve Hadley and me (I was the senior Mideast official on the NSC) to meet with him, hear him out, and see what he thought of the various peace plans. Was he open to compromises? What he told us, according to my notes of the meeting, was this:

 

 

I took risks personally but never took any risks with the security of the State of Israel. I appreciate Arab promises but will take seriously only tangible performance. For tangible performance I will take tangible steps. Israel is a tiny small country. From the Jordan River to Jerusalem is only 17.5 miles. Before 1967, the Knesset was in range of machine guns south of Jerusalem. From the Green Line to Tel Aviv is 11 miles. From the sea at Netanya to Tulkarm is 9 miles. Two-thirds of the Jewish population lives is a narrow strip on the coastal plain. Between Haifa and Ashdod, which is 80 miles, is two-thirds of the Jewish population, our only international airport, and most of our infrastructure. All of that is overlooked by the hills of Judea and Samaria.

 

I am a Jew above all and feel the responsibility to the future of the Jewish people on my shoulders. After what happened in the past, I will not let the future of the Jewish people depend on anyone, even our closest friends. Especially when you saw the crowds cheering Saddam who killed even members of his own family and government. With the deepest friendship and appreciation, we do not choose to be the lamb, but not the lion either. I will not sacrifice the nation. I come from a farm family who settled here but I deal with these problems with a cold mind. I met with the Pope, who said this is Terra Sancta to all, but Terra Promisa for the Jews only.

[Valin]

Ariel Sharon's coffin placed at Knesset to allow Israelis to pay final respects

The funeral procession will begin Monday with an official ceremony at the Knesset at 9:30 A.M., after which 8 army generals will accompany the coffin to Sycamore Ranch, with a stop in Latrun for an IDF ceremony.

Jonathan Lis

Jan. 12, 2014

 

Israeli army generals salute the coffin of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Knesset plaza, in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014. Photo by AP

 

Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coffin was placed at the Knesset Plaza, where it will remain until 6 P.M. local time to allow the Israeli public to pay its last respects.

 

Private vehicles will be denied access to the Knesset, but transportation will be provided to the seat of Israel's parliament at no cost. Shuttles began running between the Knesset and the parking lots of Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem and Latrun at 11 A.M.

 

Sharon's military funeral is scheduled to take place on Monday at 2:00 P.M. at Anemone Hill, where his wife Lily is buried, overlooking his home, Sycamore Ranch.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

[Valin]

Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon laid to rest in state funeral

Israeli and world leaders pay respects to Sharon at official ceremony at the Knesset; funeral will proceed to Sycamore Ranch, Sharon's farm in the Negev, where he will be buried.

1/13/14

 

The funeral for Ariel Sharon got underway Monday morning, in a day that would highlight the former Israeli prime minister's military and political contributions to the country.

 

The funeral, attended by leaders from Israel and around the world, began at 9:30 A.M. with an official ceremony at the Knesset, where Sharon's body lay in state on Sunday. Keynote speeches were delivered at the ceremony by President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

 

Other world dignitaries who arrived in Israel for a day of ceremonies include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, former British Prime Minister and Quartet envoy to the region Tony Blair, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Czech Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

[Valin]

Ariel Sharon, audacious general and decisive prime minister, laid to rest

You returned home, son Gilad eulogizes, as 11th PM is seen off by top echelons of govt, army and foreign dignitaries led by Vice President Biden

Haviv Rettig Gur and AP

January 13, 2014

 

Generals placing Ariel Sharon's coffin in a grave at Sycamore Farm on Monday, January 13, 2014. (photo credit: Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash 90)

 

 

Ariel Sharon, Israels eleventh prime minister, was buried in a military funeral Monday, surrounded by family, friends, foreign dignitaries and the upper echelons of the state and military, who gathered to honor one of Israels most storied and controversial battlefield commanders and political leaders.

 

(Snip)

 

Look at how they thank you for protecting them, how they cherish you for defending them, Sharons son Omri eulogized him at the funeral.

 

His younger son Gilad captured the emotion of saying goodbye to Sharon, first addressing his fathers daring military achievements.

 

They said you cant overcome the terror of the 1950s. They said tanks cant do flanking maneuvers in the dunes north of Um Katef in 1967. They said you cant cross the Suez Canal in the [1973] Yom Kippur War, until you did and ended the war, he said from a podium set up next to the gravesite in the late afternoon.

 

(Snip)