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[[Image:Ariel-sharon.jpg|right|thumb|300px]]

[[Image:Ariel-sharon.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]

'''Ariel Sharon''' (1928-  ) was [[prime minister]] of [[Israel]] from March 2001 until January 2006, when he suffered a debilitating [[stroke]] and was succeeded by [[Ehud Olmert]].  Sharon has been in a [[coma]] since that time.  As the leader of the [[Likud]] party, Sharon swept into power after the breakout of the [[Second Intifada]] in 2000.  With each incident of violence from the [[Palestinians]], Sharon executed a tit-for-tat response that left [[Yassir Arafat]] increasingly isolated until he was confined to a single compound in [[Ramallah]].  When Arafat fell ill in October 2004 he left for [[France]] and died the following month.  The Second Intifada died with him.   

'''Ariel Sharon''' (1928-  ) was [[prime minister]] of [[Israel]] from March 2001 until January 2006, when he suffered a debilitating [[stroke]] and was succeeded by [[Ehud Olmert]].  Sharon has been in a [[coma]] since that time.  As the leader of the [[Likud]] party, Sharon swept into power after the breakout of the [[Second Intifada]] in 2000.  With each incident of violence from the [[Palestinians]], Sharon executed a tit-for-tat response that left [[Yassir Arafat]] increasingly isolated until he was confined to a single compound in [[Ramallah]].  When Arafat fell ill in October 2004 he left for [[France]] and died the following month.  The Second Intifada died with him.