Born in 1928 in British-ruled Palestine. Opposition Likud Party leader, hawkish policies and a tough stance in peace negotiations.
He joined the Haganah (Jewish militia) as a youth and became one of the Israeli amy's commanders after the establishment of Israel in 1948. He developed a reputation for military prowess and ruthlessness for his role as a commander in Israel's 1953 attack on Jordan, the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War of 1967 and the October war of 1973.
Sharon helped found the Likud Party in 1973, and in 1977 he was elected to the Knesset. He has served in a number of Cabinet positions. As the minister of agriculture, Sharon was one of the most outspoken backers of Jewish settlement in occupied Arab territories. Later, as housing minister, he oversaw a major expansion drive of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip.
Sharon was minister of defense under Prime Minister Menachem Begin and spearheaded Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. He resigned from the post in 1983 under a cloud, following Israeli commanded massacres by Lebanese Christians at Palestinian refugee camps in Israeli-occupied Beirut.
In June 1990 he became minister of housing. His expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank contributed to Likud's 1992 electoral defeat. In 1996 new Likud prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Sharon to the cabinet post of minister of national infrastructure. In October 1998 he also became foreign minister, an appointment that was widely viewed as an effort by Netanyahu to increase his support among Israeli hard-liners. After Netanyahu signed an accord later that year agreeing to withdraw Israeli troops from an additional 13% of the West Bank and named his foreign minister to head an Israeli delegation that was to negotiate the final status of the occupied territories, Sharon continued to call for the expansion of Israeli settlements there.
Palestinians blame Sharon's late September visit to a Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem city for sparking violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops and endangering the ongoing push for peace talks (Al-Aqsa Intifada).
