Ariel Sharon,born in Palestine in 1928, participated in all of Israel's wars, rising to become one of Israel's best known and most daring generals. In politics in the last twenty-five years, he has served under Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir, and Benjamin Netanyahu. On February 6, 2001, Sharon defeated Ehud Barak to become the eleventh prime minister of Israel.