(Tablet) Benny Morris - From 1953 to 1955, as the leader of Unit 101 and then of Paratroop Battalion 890, Sharon fashioned the ethos and tactics of IDF commando operations. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Sharon, a division commander, brilliantly conquered the Umm Katef-Abu Agheila Egyptian fortification complex in the Sinai. In 1970 and 1971, as head of Southern Command, he successfully uprooted Palestinian terrorists from Gaza. In 1973, Sharon led the game-changing assault across the Suez Canal that forced Egypt, which had launched the Yom Kippur War together with Syria, to beg for a ceasefire. The writer is a professor of history at Ben-Gurion University.
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