Hero of Israel

"Arik was, first and foremost, a warrior and a commander, among the Jewish people's greatest generals in the current era and throughout its history. I think he represents the generation of Jewish warriors that arose for our people upon the resumption of our independence."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

"These are tears of pain and parting but also joy in a way for him since now he can finally rest. He was a leader you could count on, someone you could trust. He looked into the future, relied on the experience of the past and had the courage to make tough decisions and carry them out.
Anat Amir, 44-year-old Israeli

"I saw and felt firsthand the strength he gave the soldiers. He was the one who pushed ahead and provided the spirit.
"He was one of the greats. When the history of Israel is written, he will be in the first row."
Norman Zysblat, 64, crossed the Suez Canal in 1973 under Sharon's command

Ariel Sharon gestures during a visit to an army lookout in Tovlan in the Jordan valley January 3 2001.

In a way, it took eight years for the man to die. Put another way, perhaps it could be said he had died eight years ago. To the shock and consternation of a nation, hoping that he would recover from the massive stroke that left him on life support, he never did recover. On the other hand, his son Gilad thinks otherwise, and he most certainly must know his father far more thoroughly than anyone else: "He was the one who decided when he would go", said Gilad Sharon.

From his service to the nation as a military man under the country's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, to service with Israel's military under all succeeding leaders of the fledgling nation continually under violent threat by its neighbours, Ariel Sharon knew Israel and its precarious situation as few others would have, battle-scarred and intent on preserving a homeland for the world's Jews, whom the world had abandoned during its most dire time of existential need.

The return to Zion after the horrors of the Second World War and the full revelations of the Holocaust was an imperative to restore Jewish hope for the future of its continued existence. An ethnic, social, cultural religious group of people persecuted throughout antiquity and into modernity had an obligation to save itself from oblivion. Nature has instilled in every living creature the imperative to survive, and to use every means in their self-protective arsenal to do so.

For Jews, it meant the diaspora would consider re-assembling itself, and returning back to the geography from which it had been dispersed by ongoing conflict through exposure to dominating cultures of greater power, though not greater resilience to endure than that which Jews demonstrated throughout the millennia. But when one foul ideology of Nazi fascism was successful in destroying the lives of an impossible six million of a relatively small ethnic group with no other country championing its human rights to exist, the message was clear enough.

Handout Reuters, Ariel Sharon left, Moshe Dayan right, military operation, September 11, 1956

And it was a message that most Jews take seriously; few more so than did Ariel Sharon, dedicated to the continuation of the State of Israel, its defence and security and by extension that of all Jewish presence. He proved his mettle at an early age and went on demonstrating his courageous resolution through conflict exploits matched by few others for his country; only Moshe Dayan comes to mind. His boldly intelligent capability as a military leader came to the fore during the Yom Kippur war. All that stopped him and his troops from marching on Cairo were the blandishments of the international community.

When the Palestine Liberation Organization unceasingly engaged in cross-border attacks from Lebanon, after it was expelled from Jordan for engaging in just such terrorist attacks against Israeli targets, it was clear that the Israel Defence Force would be compelled to persuade Lebanon that it would be better off in the absence of the PLO within Lebanon. Many Lebanese didn't need much in the way of persuasion; the presence of Palestinians in their country was not appreciated, particularly because of the Palestinian sense of entitlement to Lebanese territory.

Bad blood between the Lebanese Christian Phalange and Palestinians led to conflict, and led also to the massacres that took place at two Palestinian refugee camps, Sabra and Chatila.  The Phalangists and the South Lebanese army entered the two refugee camps and committed atrocities there, slaughtering men, women and children mercilessly, in revenge for the PLO attempting to displace Lebanese from the land. Israel did succeed in having the PLO militias disarmed and exit Lebanon, but Lebanon refused to take responsibility for the atrocities and cast blame on Ariel Sharon for failing to foresee the inevitability of a massacre and taking active steps to prevent it.

Ariel Sharon, in his political life, believed passionately that Israel was the homeland of the Jewish people and that it was there that they would and should find their future and along with it, security. As a devout Jew he also believed that Jews should have access to their most sacred religious sites. Yet the site of the Temple Mount upon which had been built two successive ancient temples, the Temples of Solomon, had been off limit to Jews under Jordanian rule. When East Jerusalem fell defensively to the IDF, in yet another Arab attack in 1967, Jews were finally free to pray at the Wailing Wall.

Muslims had built upon the site of the ancient Jewish temple and declared the Temple Mount to be the site of their own holy sanctuary, the place from where the Prophet Mohammed was said to have ascended to Paradise mounted on a white steed. When Ariel Sharon attempted to visit the Temple Mount in 2000, he said "every Jew has the right to ascend onto the Temple Mount", where the al-Aqsa mosque now stands on what Arabs call the Noble Sanctuary. His presence infuriated Palestinians and was said to have been the provocation that began the Second Intifada; a ruse.

All these and succeeding conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians made Ariel Sharon a loathed figure to the Arab world. Where he was both 'respected' and feared. In the Arab world if someone is feared he is respected. Force of arms and steadfast courage, and certainly not accommodation has currency in that culture. A man of firm faith and true conviction, Ariel Sharon knew his mind and preferred it to the counsel of others. He was a man of vision and enterprise.

Israel will miss him as it laments his passing.