Sharon, left, defeated charismatic Netanyahu

By Yasser el-Banna & Falah el-Safady, IOL Correspondents

TEL AVIV, November 29 (IslamOnline) - Ariel Sharon, who trounced his rival Benjamin Netanyahu in the primary elections for the right-wing Likud party Thursday, November 28, reshaped his domestic image from a hard-nosed warrior to clever tactician and "responsible statesman", in his own words.  

By winning the Likud primaries with a wide margin over his Foreign Minister and former Premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon now leads the Israeli political pack.  

Born in 1928 in the then British-governed Palestine of parents of central European origin, Sharon joined the Jewish gangs in 1945, participated in evacuating the Arab residents out of their cities and villages, through massacres and assaults.  

Sharon studied History and Eastern Sciences in 1953 in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also had a Law Degree from Tel Aviv University in 1962. He speaks Hebrew, English, and Russian.  

The hawkish Israeli Premier participated in Palestine's first war in 1948, was appointed a brigade's leader in 1949, then an intelligence officer in 1951. During his university studies, he was appointed leader of Unit 101, formed to carry out operations against Arab resistance activists.

In 1954, Sharon led the Israeli forces that committed the massacre of Qabya village, destroyed houses with inhabitants inside In 1956, he led a Parachutes’ Unit and participated in the Sinai War. He was promoted to the rank of General in 1969, quit the army in 1973 to run for parliament.

His beloved second wife, Lily, died of cancer in March 2000 after 37 years of marriage. She was the sister of his first wife, Margalit, who was killed in a car crash. One of his three sons died in a shooting accident.  

Throughout his military career, Sharon showed a taste for rapid action, leading an armored division that tried to take Egyptian forces from behind in the 1973 October War. He also showed an inclination to set his own rules despite critics of his tactics, which often left a large body count.  

He entered politics in 1973, but quit parliament for a year to serve as security advisor to then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated by a Jewish extremist.  

Back in parliament from 1977, Sharon also held a variety of cabinet posts but was such a feisty, independent spirit that even government colleagues were often stunned by his behavior.  

"He wouldn't hesitate to send tanks to attack me in the prime minister's office," former leader Menachem Begin once said.  

Sharon, who said just a few months ago he regretted not killing arch-foe Yasser Arafat in 1982, now insists he has no intention of harming the ageing Palestinian leader and even acknowledges a de facto Palestinian state already exists.  

Hated in the Arab world, he may be showing a more dovish face, but commentators argue it is only political tactics aimed at filling a vacuum left by Netanyahu, who tried to stalk him on the far-right.  

On the other hand, three years after being ousted from Israel's top job, Benjamin Netanyahu stormed back on the political scene with a tougher stance than ever, choosing to challenge Sharon on his own turf.  

Netanyahu's charisma could have been enough to beat the dovish new Labor leader Amram Mitzna in the January 28 legislative elections, but not to defeat the former general, who has surprised many by showing he had grown out of his image of hard-nosed warrior into a fine tactician.  

"Bibi," the tough-talking darling of the right, has been a constant thorn in Sharon's side and made no secret of his wish to steal the Premier's job, but his flamboyant media-savvy style has failed to win the support of Likud's 300,000 cardholders.  

Netanyahu, 53, accepted at the beginning of the month a surprise proposal by Sharon to take the Foreign Ministry and replace Shimon Peres, whose Labor party pulled out of the national unity government.

He hoped the move would give him a platform in the electoral run-up, but his new position in the government reduced his room to maneuver and crippled a campaign originally designed to be an aggressive attack on Sharon's mixed performance during the Palestinian Intifada.  

After failing to make an impact by focusing on the country's worst-ever economic crisis and advocating ultra-liberal policies, the former Prime Minister reverted to the core of the political debate.  

He adopted harder positions than ever on the Palestinian issue, but as Netanyahu spectacularly swerved to the far-right, Sharon happily moved in to occupy the vacuum and further gnawed at the centre and left-wing electorate.  

A loner with few close friends in Israel's political establishment, Netanyahu's flawless English, media savoir-faire and hard line pedigree have earned him a leading spot in the nation's right-wing pantheon.

His reputation survived his 1996-1999 Premiership, when he abandoned pre-election pledges not to respect the 1993 Oslo peace accords and signed the Wye River accords with Arafat, turning over chunks of the West Bank to Palestinian control.  

After shaking the hand of Arafat - which Sharon refused to do - in 1998, Netanyahu based his entire campaign on the expulsion of the veteran Palestinian leader and claims to be "the only one to oppose a Palestinian state".  

His father Bentzion, a history professor who worked under Zionist revisionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky, was regarded as a right-wing in the Labor-dominated Israel of the time that he was forced to find a university post in the United States, where his sons were educated.  

Before attending the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the young Benjamin served in an Israeli army commando unit, took part in several operations and was wounded. He left the service with the rank of captain.  

Netanyahu was deeply affected by the death of his elder brother Jonathan, killed leading the 1976 Israeli commando raid on an Air France plane hijacked by Palestinians to Entebbe, Uganda.  

Following his brother's death, Netanyahu became fascinated with terrorism, penning three books on the subject, from his own point of view.  

His career took off when he was asked to join Israel's Embassy in Washington after shining at an anti-terror conference he organized in Jerusalem in 1982.  

Only two years later, Netanyahu was appointed Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations.  

Returning to Israel in 1988, he was elected to the Jewish state's parliament on the right-wing Likud's ticket. He became Likud leader only five years later.  

In 1996, he captured the majority of Israeli voters with a promise of security after four bombings that killed 58 people in two months.  

But in September 1996, Netanyahu - censured at times for being arrogant and stubborn - overrode security objections and ordered opening a new entrance to a controversial archeological tunnel near Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.  

The move sparked intense violence in the Palestinian territories, leaving more than 80 dead.  

Critics at the time charged that Netanyahu succeeded in killing the peace process without bringing his vaunted promise of security for Israel.  

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