Ehud Barak was born
in a kibbutz in 1942. In 1959, he joined the Israel
Defense Forces. During the Six Day War in 1967, he served as reconnaissance group commander,
in the Yom
Kippur War in 1973 as tank battalion commander on the southern front in
the Sinai. In 1972, Barak led an elite commando unit which stormed a hijacked
Sabena airplane. In 1973, he led a commando unit in Beirut which assassinated
three high ranking officials of Al-Fatah which were involved in the
massacre of the Israeli Olympic delegation in Munich. In 1976, he led the
legendary storming of the hijacked airplane in Entebbe. The same year, Barak got a a B.Sc. in
Physics and Mathematics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
and, in 1978, a Master of Science in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University,
California. In 1982, Barak was appointed Head of the IDF Planning Branch, promoted to Major
General. During the 1982 "Peace for Galilee"
operation, he served as Deputy Commander of the Israeli
force in Lebanon. In 1983, he was appointed Head of the Intelligence Branch at the IDF General
Headquarters. In 1986, he was appointed Commander of the IDF
Central Command and, in 1987, he became Deputy Chief-of-Staff. In 1991,
Barak assumed
the post of the 14th Chief of the General Staff and was promoted to the
rank of Lt. General, the highest grade in the Israeli military. Following the
1994
signing of the Gaza-Jericho agreement with the Palestinian leaders, Barak oversaw the IDF's redeployment in the Gaza Strip and Jericho. He
played a central role in finalizing the peace treaty with Jordan, signed
in 1994, and met with his Syrian counterpart as part of the Syrian-Israeli
negotiations. In early 1995, Barak retired from the army. From July to November 1995,
he served as Minister of
the Interior and, from November 1995 to June 1996, as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In 1996, he was elected to the Knesset where he served as a Member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee. In 1996, Barak was also elected
Chairman of the Labor Party. In 1999, he formed the One Israel Party from
the Labor, Gesher and Meimad factions. Barak was elected
Prime Minister of Israel on May 17, 1999, also assuming the office of Minister of
Defense until the electoral defeat of February 2001.
