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Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died aged 85, according to Israeli radio, quoting a relative of his family.
He spent eight years in a coma following a stroke at the height of his power in 2006. Sharon became Prime Minister in 2001.
He was long regarded as a standard bearer of the Israeli right after playing a leading role in both the Six Day War of 1967 and Yom Kippur conflict six years later. After retiring from the Israeli army as a general, he joined the right wing Likud party and was swiftly promoted into the ministerial ranks.
Read more: Ariel Sharon dies aged 85: Former Israeli Prime Minister passes away after organ failure following eight-year coma
Sharon was also the first Likud prime minister to endorse the idea of a Palestinian stat e, however parsimoniously. He was the first to call the West Bank and Gaza Strip “occupied” territory. Most radically, Sharon advocated the evacuation of Gaza and part of the West Bank, including settlements he himself had fostered.
Never one to shun controversy, he was accused, especially by the Palestinians, of being a warmonger and held responsible for many deaths. He was labelled the ‘Butcher of Beirut’ by some after the deaths of as many as 3,500 Palestinian refugees in the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut in 1982 when he was Israel’s defence minister.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Show all 12 1 /12Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 1956 Ariel Sharon writes a letter in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1956 war with Egypt in this handout file picture taken 30 October, 1956 and released by Israel's Defence Ministry.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 1969 In 1969, Sharon was appointed Chief of Southern Command. He demolished thousands of homes in Gaza refugee camps to open roads for anti-terror patrols and deported hundreds of young men to Jordan and Lebanon.
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Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 1981 Israeli then Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Ministers Avraham Burg, Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Shamir as they walk from their lodgings to the funeral of assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, held on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, 10 October 1981.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 1982 Sharon planned and orchestrated Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in June 1982, extending the war’s objectives far beyond those approved by the government.
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Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon and his wife, 1982 Sharon laughs as his wife Lily stands at his side during an aerial display in an Israeli Air Force Base in this 15 July, 1982 file handout picture released by the Government Press Office.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 1993 This picture from September 1993 shows Sharon with his sheep during a photo session on his farm in Shikmim, southern Israel.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 1998 Sharon walks past Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat during the Middle East peace summit at the Wye River Conference centre 21 October, 1998.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 1999 Sharon, centre, in 1999 as leader of the opposition Likud party, unfurls maps of Israeli settlements in the West Bank with right-wing Knesset member Hanan Porat, right, during a tour of the West Bank settlement of Har Harasha northwest of Ramallah.
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Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 2003 Former US President George W. Bush (C), Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (L) and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) waving for the photographers before their meeting on advancing the 'road map' for peace at the Middle East Summit in Aqaba, Jordan, 4 June 2003.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 2005 Sharon (R) shakes hands with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at a peace summit 8 February 2005 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon in 2005 Sharon is seen as he takes part in the lighting of a Hanukkah candle at his Jerusalem office 27 December, 2005 in Jerusalem, Israel.
Ariel Sharon dies: Former Israeli Prime Minister's life in pictures Ariel Sharon The first Likud prime minister of Israel who was not reared on the muscular Zionism of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the doctrine of “both banks of the Jordan are ours”
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