Summary Sharon is resented in the Muslim world as the 'slaughterer' of thousand of Muslims.
JERUSALEM (Dunya News/Web Desk) - Former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon died at a hospital near Tel Aviv on Saturday, aged of 85, after eight years in a coma, his family and officials said.
"Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has passed away at the age of 85," wrote spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his official Twitter feed.
He is resented in the Muslim world as he s notorious for Palestine-refugee massacre amongst other armed conflicts which resulted in several hundreds of casualties.
Sharon has been in a coma since January 4, 2006 after suffering a massive stroke. His condition took a sudden turn for the worse on January 1 when he suffered serious kidney problems after surgery.
Last January, neurological MRI scans revealed significant brain activity in the former PM’s brain. Medical staff recorded a positive response to family pictures, a recording of his son s voice and human touch.
Sharon, one of Israel’s most famous generals, was notorious among the Muslim world for his controversial military conflicts against Palestinians and Muslims. As a military commander, Sharon sometimes disobeyed orders and followed tactics based on his instincts in battle. As a politician he was known as “the bulldozer,” a man capable of taking things down.
Rising from the rank of paratrooper to Defense Minister, Sharon was notorious for his roles played in several of Israel’s armed conflicts – including that of the war which resulted in Palestinian occupation in 1948.
Sharon resigned as a Defense Minister in 1983 after a commission of inquiry found him personally liable for failing to prevent the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatilla camps by Christian Phalangists.
After retiring from the army, Sharon joined and later led the Likud party, leaving it in 2005 to form the new Kadima party.
A militarily fierce person, he was Israel’s prominent hard-liner when he was elected prime minister in 2001.
It is said that Sharon got weaker in his stance as in mid-2005 he ended 38 years of military control of the Gaza Strip after directing a unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from the territory, which came as a shock for those who supported Sharon’s championing of the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
