Israel - Personal background



Ariel Sharon was born 27 February 1928 in Kfar Malal (near Tel Aviv), which was then part of British-ruled Palestine. He is the son of Zionist Russian emigres whose family name was originally Scheinerman. At age 14, Sharon joined the under-ground Jewish defense movement Haganah. By age 20 he was in command of an infantry company in the Alexandroni Brigade in the 1948 War of Independence. He was wounded in the battle to free Jerusalem; at war's end he was named commander of the Golani Unit. From 1951 to 1952 he served as an intelligence officer in the Central and Northern Commands. In 1953 he founded the Commando Unit 101, notorious for its mission of carrying out retaliatory raids against Palestinian terrorist groups. Later in the 1950s Sharon continued in command positions in paratrooper brigades, helping to develop methods the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) used in carrying out its missions. Between 1958 and 1962 Sharon commanded the Infantry Corps School; he would later (1966) be appointed chief of the General Headquarters Training Department. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict and again in 1973, Sharon commanded an armored division. He attained the rank of major general. He is noted by both his countrymen and his enemies as the designer of Israel's response to terrorism.

Between his military operations, Sharon attended Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he studied Middle East history (1952). In 1957 he studied military theory at the Staff College in England. From 1958–62 he studied law at Tel Aviv University. His entire career has been in the service of Israel, either in the military or in various governmental positions.

Sharon has been widowed twice, and has three sons. His first wife was killed in an automobile accident; the son from that marriage died at age 10 in an accidental shooting incident. Sharon married his sister-in-law, Lili, a painter, in 1963; the couple had two sons. Lili died in 2000 from lung cancer. Sharon lives on a farm in the Negev.

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