Known for his girth and booming voice, Mr Sharon is a determined and controversial figure

¤ During two decades in politics, Mr Sharon, 77, angered Arabs and Israeli doves by championing Jewish settlement on land taken in the 1967 Middle East war. Previously he was a career army commander with an unrivalled record of battlefield victories.

¤ Long the darling of the far right, Mr Sharon shocked Jewish ultranationalists in 2003 by announcing he would "disengage" Israel from fighting with the Palestinians by removing all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four from the West Bank. Most Israelis back the mid-August pull-out but some settlers have threatened to resist. Mr Sharon's bodyguard has been boosted amid fears he could be assassinated.

¤ Palestinians accuse Mr Sharon of provoking their uprising by his September 2000 visit, while opposition leader, to a Jerusalem shrine holy to both Muslims and Jews. Many Israelis say the revolt was planned and aimed to wrest concessions from Israel after US-brokered peace negotiations deadlocked.

¤ Leader of the rightist Likud party, Mr Sharon was elected Prime Minister twice, in 2001 and 2003, vowing to restore security and stamp out Palestinian violence. He says that while jettisoning Gaza, Israel will keep much of the West Bank, drawing Palestinian charges of poor faith in peace efforts.

¤ The Arab world reviles Mr Sharon for masterminding the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, during which Israel's Lebanese Christian allies massacred Palestinians in two refugee camps. Mr Sharon was forced to resign as Defence Minister after an Israeli inquiry found him indirectly responsible for failing to foresee and prevent the killings. Many declared his political career dead.