Free Republic

series of foreign dignitaries landed in Israel on Monday morning to attend the funeral of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who died at the age of 85 on Saturday. A ceremony was set for 9:30 a.m. at the Knesset before the casket is taken from Jerusalem for the final time. At 2 p.m., Sharon’s body will be laid to rest at Sycamore Farm in a full military ceremony. His casket will be carried by eight IDF major generals. Stay with us for live coverage throughout the day.

Cal Thomas conducted an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Oct. 12, 2003 in which Sharon outlined the five conditions that must be met before the peace process can proceed. Also, Sharon commented on the security wall, which he continued to build in the face of U.N. disapproval, the probability for more attacks in Syria and the value of pre-emptive strikes. In light of Sharon's death, we are releasing this interview as a bonus offering. It is available for immediate release. Q. Given the recent acts of terrorism, do you consider the "road map" dead? A. No....

Ariel Sharon, who died Saturday at age 85, after being suspended comatose, between life and death for the past eight years, was the final Israeli prime minister from the generation that fought in the 1948 War of Independence. And as with others of his generation, the growth and development of the country were reflected in his career. Sharon was a dazzling military commander. He was one of the original authors of Israel’s trailblazing counter terror strategies. The large battles against regular armies that he commanded in the 1956 Suez campaign, the 1967 Six Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur...

Shortly after the 1982 Lebanon War, I was in Israel with three retired, high-ranking American General Officers, including the former Chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the former Commander, US Air Forces Europe; and the former Commander in Chief, US Army, Europe. We traveled across the north, into Lebanon and up to the Beaufort Castle (from which the PLO had been shelling Israel). The highlight of our program was to be a meeting with Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. The Ministry of Defense (MOD) schedule, however, showed the meeting late in the afternoon the day before the Kahan Commission investigating the...

The formative moment of Ariel Sharon’s life came in May 1948; not with the Declaration of Independence – which he heard on the radio wafting out of an open window on his way to kiss his girlfriend Gali before a mission – but with the battle for Latrun, 11 days later, in which he was left for dead. >>SNIP<< For the first and last time in my life as a commander, I gave the order: retreat, retreat and leave the wounded in the field. “There was no choice. I had to save the few that were still alive. I lay...