ARIEL SHARON, FORMER ISRAELI PM DIES AT 85 by Benson Agoha

* Ariel Sharon.

Former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon is dead. He was 85 years old.

Announcing the death at the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer near Tel Aviv, his son Gilad said “That’s it. He’s gone. He went when he decided to go,”.

The Ex Army General and former PM of Israel has lately been in the news over failing health as his vital organs were not responding to treatment.

He had been in coma for 8 years in an Israeli Hospital.

Iconic, famous and controversial, Ariel Sharon was a major player in Israeli history and has been described as a trailblazer and a true Jew for a Jewish cause.

One of his unpopular acts, as Defence Minister, was leading the Israeli invassion of Lebanon in 1982, an act that led to his forced resignation from office.

Ariel Sharon was always a man that had the hard-line voice over the years, and when he visited the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount on 28 September, 2000, his visit sparked a wave of violence.

Noth-withstanding, he was elected prime minister in 2001.

At the height of Israeli-Palestinian face-off the former PM initially had a small stroke in December 2005 before he suffered severe brain hemorrhage on January 4, 2006.

He was aiming for re-election before falling ill and since 14 April 2006, has been in coma.

Unsurprisingly Reuters report that, in Gaza, the Hamas Islamists whose political fortunes rose with the Israeli withdrawal, savoured Sharon's demise.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zurhi was quoted as saying "We have become more confident in victory with the departure of this tyrant...our people today feel extreme happiness at the death and departure of this criminal whose hands were smeared with the blood of our people and the blood of our leaders here and in exile."

Marina Lipschitz, his Chief Nurse at the hospital said Sharon “was a hero,” because “Even at the end, he continued to fight like a lion.

No date has been announced for his burial.

* Twitter: @bensonagoha.

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