:00:21. > :00:26.Good afternoon. In the last half hour, it's been announced that the
:00:27. > :00:32.former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has died. He was 85 and had
:00:33. > :00:37.been in a coma since 2006, following a stroke. He was a dominant figure
:00:38. > :00:40.in both the military and politics in Israel but courted controversy
:00:41. > :00:47.throughout his long career. James Robbins looks back at his life.
:00:48. > :00:53.There is flash photography in his report. They called him the
:00:54. > :00:59.bulldozer, soldier first and politician second, Ariel Sharon
:01:00. > :01:03.loomed large over 50 years of turbulent Israeli history, a
:01:04. > :01:08.hardliner who eventually seemed to soften, but could not bring Israel
:01:09. > :01:14.peace. Ariel Sharon was born into a world of Jewish pioneering zeal.
:01:15. > :01:19.During Israel's War of Independence he was already in the Army. In 1967,
:01:20. > :01:25.he led a dramatic night-time attack into Egypt, he's image as a
:01:26. > :01:29.brilliant tactician was cemented. But there was a dark side, his men
:01:30. > :01:35.were accused of shooting Egyptian prisoners. In the 1973 war Ariel
:01:36. > :01:41.Sharon crossed the Suez Canal before being told to go no further. He was
:01:42. > :01:46.angry. We defeated the Egyptians, he said, but did not win the war. As a
:01:47. > :01:53.politician he campaigned loudly for Jewish settlers colonising the
:01:54. > :01:56.occupied territories. As a new government minister his original aim
:01:57. > :02:04.was to prevent the creation of a future Palestinian state. Then as
:02:05. > :02:09.Minister of defence in 1982, Sharon led a full-scale invasion of
:02:10. > :02:13.Lebanon, stated aim to secure Israel's northern border from
:02:14. > :02:18.terrorist attack, but the real priority to smash Yasser Arafat's
:02:19. > :02:24.PLO. The Israeli siege of west Beirut caused much suffering.
:02:25. > :02:38.Christian militias close to Sharon slaughtered unprotected
:02:39. > :02:42.Palestinians. An Israeli tribunal found Ariel Sharon indirectly
:02:43. > :02:48.responsible for the massacre and he was sacked. But Sharon clawed his
:02:49. > :02:53.way back. By the end of the 90s he was Foreign Minister under Benjamin
:02:54. > :02:57.Netanyahu. His ambition to take over the right-wing in Israeli politics
:02:58. > :03:02.led him to a highly provocative visit to the mosque on Temple
:03:03. > :03:08.Mount. It triggered a Palestinian uprising, but also helped sweep
:03:09. > :03:10.Sharon into power. Ariel Sharon promised Israelis peace with
:03:11. > :03:17.security but brought neither. Palestinians said that suicide bombs
:03:18. > :03:25.triggered ever hard punishment, Sharon once again pitted against his
:03:26. > :03:32.old foe Yasser Arafat. It is an enemy. Ariel Sharon spent most of
:03:33. > :03:37.his life fighting Israel's enemies. His final act was to build a barrier
:03:38. > :03:42.to keep them out. But he also withdrew from the Gaza Strip and the
:03:43. > :03:48.part of the West Bank, defying his original supporters, the Israeli
:03:49. > :03:53.settlers. His vision became peace with the Palestinians and Israel's
:03:54. > :03:57.neighbours, but strictly on Israel's terms. But in January 2006,
:03:58. > :04:04.the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a huge/ . He went into a
:04:05. > :04:07.coma and never suffered. Ariel Sharon died with peace still a
:04:08. > :04:13.distant prospect. Joining us live from Israel is Kevin Connolly our
:04:14. > :04:18.Jerusalem Correspondent. In many respects, to look at the life of
:04:19. > :04:24.Ariel Sharon is to track the history of modern-day Israel. That is right,
:04:25. > :04:29.Ariel Sharon was in it at the very beginning, a member of the founding
:04:30. > :04:35.generation of the Israeli state. He fought in Israel's war in 1948 and
:04:36. > :04:38.it was then it seemed a pivotal figure in almost every crucial
:04:39. > :04:45.moment in Israeli history until that moment when he slipped into a coma
:04:46. > :04:49.about eight years ago. In many senses Israel pauses at the moment
:04:50. > :04:53.in a particular mood because the story of Ariel Sharon's life with
:04:54. > :04:57.all its light and dark and War and peace is to some extent the story of
:04:58. > :05:03.the whole Israeli state and that gave him a very special status. He
:05:04. > :05:07.was always a controversial figure, hated by his enemies and never
:05:08. > :05:11.trusted by the left, but nobody doubted his stature and that is how
:05:12. > :05:15.he will be remembered. Kevin, thank you very much. Scotland Yard say a
:05:16. > :05:18.number of protestors plan to "provoke disorder" at a vigil for
:05:19. > :05:21.Mark Duggan outside Tottenham police station in North London today. They
:05:22. > :05:24.say officers will be ready to intervene immediately. Mr Duggan's
:05:25. > :05:35.fatal shooting by police in London in 2011 led to rioting across
:05:36. > :05:38.England. It was the spike at least. This week, an inquest jury returned
:05:39. > :05:40.a verdict of lawful killing, sparking anger from friends and
:05:41. > :05:51.relatives. Our correspondent, Tom Symonds, is in Tottenham now. Tom.
:05:52. > :05:56.Carol Duggan, Mark Duggan's card, said on the steps of the court this
:05:57. > :06:02.week, no justice, no peace, but she has made it clear that protest
:06:03. > :06:06.should be noisy but not violent and the family has reiterated that since
:06:07. > :06:11.the verdict in the Mark Duggan inquest. The police are aware, they
:06:12. > :06:16.say, of small groups that they say are intent on causing trouble. But
:06:17. > :06:21.there is a big policing operation in place here. It may not look like it,
:06:22. > :06:26.but there are police vans in side streets and there are police
:06:27. > :06:31.officers and press officers on the ground. They intend to keep control
:06:32. > :06:34.of the situation. One complication is the football match due to start
:06:35. > :06:41.at White Hart Lane this afternoon. The vigil starts at 2pm and will
:06:42. > :06:44.involve speeches by supporters of Mark Duggan. The Defence Secretary
:06:45. > :06:46.Philip Hammond has rejected suggestions that the Army is
:06:47. > :06:49.struggling to attract new recruits. Today the Army launches its third
:06:50. > :06:53.advertising campaign of the past year. The size of the regular Army
:06:54. > :07:06.is being cut by almost 20,000, but the number of reservists is going
:07:07. > :07:10.up. Andy Moore reports. Launching a ?3 million recruitment
:07:11. > :07:14.campaign in the midst of ongoing defence cuts may seem perverse.
:07:15. > :07:19.Later this month, the Army will be announcing its fourth round of
:07:20. > :07:23.redundancies. But the military says it always needs a healthy flow of
:07:24. > :07:27.new recruits and this campaign called more than meets the eye, aims
:07:28. > :07:32.to highlight the opportunities for regular soldiers and reserves. The
:07:33. > :07:37.purpose of the campaign we are launching today is to dispel for
:07:38. > :07:42.ever the myth that somehow the Army isn't recruiting. Yes, the regular
:07:43. > :07:45.Army will be smaller in the future and yes there will be one further
:07:46. > :07:52.round of redundancies, unfortunately, but that does not
:07:53. > :07:57.mean the Army is not recruiting. The government has already announced the
:07:58. > :08:01.size of the regular Army would shrink to 82,000 personnel. To
:08:02. > :08:06.compensate the Army aims to nearly doubled the size of the reserve
:08:07. > :08:10.force. Currently there are 19,000 trained, part-time soldiers. By the
:08:11. > :08:17.end of the decade that should be 30,000 strong. So via the Army is
:08:18. > :08:21.not meeting its recruiting targets for the reserves. Labour has called
:08:22. > :08:25.this new recruitment campaign and overdue but welcome step. It has
:08:26. > :08:30.previously called on the government to reconsider the pace of job
:08:31. > :08:37.losses. The Army hopes this advert will entice many to sign up and join
:08:38. > :08:41.what it says and exciting career. That is all from me. There will be
:08:42. > :08:42.more on the death of