Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of Beirut turned peacemaker, dies at the age of 85

• The former leader is one of Israel's most iconic and controversial figures
• He went into a coma following a devastating stroke in January 2006
• Sharon died on Saturday afternoon at Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv
• His son Gilan told reporters that 'he had gone when he decided to'
• The hospital said he 'departed peacefully with his family at his side'
• David Cameron paid tribute to his 'brave and controversial decisions'
  

By Ian Birrell for The Mail on Sunday

Published: 07:43 EDT, 11 January 2014 | Updated: 19:59 EDT, 11 January 2014

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli general and former prime minister who proved such a controversial figure across the Middle East for more than five decades, died yesterday.

He was 85.

Nicknamed The Bulldozer for his tenacious approach to war and politics, Sharon suffered a serious stroke in 2006 and remained in a coma until his death.

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Iconic: This picture taken on November 16, 2005 shows former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addressing a press conference in Jerusalem

'Departed peacefully': Hospital director professor Shlomo Noy today gave a press conference on the former prime minister's death

Led away: Sharon's body is moved on to an ambulance while a policeman stands guard

Departure: Media gathered ahead of the departure, after the hospital confirmed the former prime minister's death this afternoon

Many Israelis will mourn one of their nation's founding fathers, who fought in all their wars and held almost every top political post.

But millions more will remember him as the Butcher of Beirut, infamously allowing the slaughter of refugees in Lebanon.

Perhaps the only point of agreement is that he was one of the central characters in the turbulent drama of the Middle East.

Ariel Sharon was born in 1928 to middle-class parents who had emigrated from Russia, and he grew up near Tel Aviv.

He joined the underground Jewish army aged 14.

Six years later, he fought in the 1948 war of independence, where he was wounded, then made his name in the new Israeli Defence Forces.

Resting-place: Gilad Sharon stands by the grave of his mother Lily in southern Israel. Ariel Sharon is expected to be buried there as well

Remembrance: The plot of land is not far from the Sharon family farm in Sderot, Israel

Comfort: Gilad Sharon kisses one of his twin sons (unidentified) as his wife Inbal and his older son Rotem (R) gather near the grave site

Tourists: Israelis visit the plot where late the late Prime Minister will be laid to rest

David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding prime minister, admired Sharon and asked him to establish an elite commando unit.

Within months, Unit 101 had earned Israel its first condemnation by the United Nations after a raid on a Jordanian town that left 69 people dead.

But Sharon recovered from the furore and went on to play key roles in Israel's subsequent wars.

In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he defied orders to take 5,000 men through Egyptian lines, a daring move that changed the course of the conflict and cemented his heroic status among Israelis.

'When he decided to go': Gilad Sharon, Ariel Sharon's son, today confirmed the news of his father's death

Upon entering politics, Sharon was renowned as a hawk, supporting the creation of Jewish settlements in occupied territories.

In 1982, came the moment that made him such a hate figure across the Arab world when, as defence minister, he ordered Israeli troops into Lebanon.

It ended with them besieging Beirut and standing by as Lebanese militia massacred thousands in refugee camps.

Sharon denied responsibility, but he was sacked as defence minister and condemned by an inquiry.

Unexpectedly, he bounced back to become leader of the right-wing party Likud, and was elected premier in 2001 on a promise of peace and security after his provocative visit to a Jerusalem mosque helped spark a Palestinian uprising.

Ariel Sharon gestures during a visit to an army lookout in Tavlan in the Jordan valley, January 3 2001

Friendship: Ariel Sharon and Tony Blair shake hands at a joint news conference in Jerusalem in December 2004

'Important figure': In this photograph from December 2005, Ariel Sharon addresses the Israel Business Conference in Tel Aviv

Ariel Sharon and former U.S. President George W. Bush holding a joint news conference at Bush's Central Texas ranch in Crawford, 2005

Ariel Sharon taking a ride on a mini-tractor on his ranch in southern Israel with his wife Lily and one of his grandchildren

Sharon receiving a baggage car ride at Heathrow on his first visit to England

Sharon (2nd left) sitting in a jeep during a tour on October 1973

Sharon, an Israeli soldier in 1948, holds a weapon during the war of Israel's founding

Yet suddenly - worried by Arab population growth and American political weakness - this 20st tough-guy started talking about the inevitability of a Palestinian state.

He formed a centrist party and set about dismantling Jewish settlements, earning the enmity of his most fervent supporters.

Who knows what he might have achieved had he not been struck down by successive strokes on the brink of winning a crucial election?

For, as so often in history, who better to make peace than a hardliner forged in war?

Instead came eight years of fighting death with the same fierce determination that he showed throughout his life.

Then Foreign Minister Sharon (centre) in the government of Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (behind, right) and he comes close to former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (left) as former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright (right) watches the close encounter during Israeli - Palestinian negotiations in Washington DC

Sharon, as Israeli Prime Minister, on the outskirts of Mevessert Zion, west of Jerusalem as he speaks with army personnel, unseen, while overlooking part of Israel's separation barrier being constructed near the West Bank villages of Beit Surik and Beit Iksa