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Natan Sharansky (Russian: Натан Щаранский, born January 20, 1948) is a notable Soviet dissident, Israeli politician and an author. Since March 2003, he is a Minister without portfolio, responsible for Jerusalem, social and diaspora affairs. Previously he served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, Minister of Housing and Construction since March 2001, Interior Minister of Israel (July 1999 - resigned in July 2000), Minister of Industry and Trade (1996-1999).
BiographyBorn Anatoly Shcharansky (Анатолий Щаранский) in Donetsk, Ukraine to a Jewish family, he graduated with the degree in Applied mathematics from Moscow Technical Institute. After being denied an exit visa to Israel for "security" reasons in 1973, he worked as an English interpreter for prominent physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, and also became a human rights activist. Sharansky was one of the founders and the spokesman of Jewish and the Refusenik movement in Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, also known as Yuri Orlov's group. Missing image Sharansky's_book_Fear_No_Evil.jpg The front page of Sharansky's book, Fear No Evil In March 1977 he was arrested and in July 1978 convicted on charges (later proven false) of treason and spying for the United States and sentenced to thirteen years. After 16 months in Lefortovo prison he was incarcerated in the Siberian Gulag for nine years. He was exchanged for a Soviet spy in 1986 and emigrated to Israel, adopting a Hebrew given name Natan. In 1988 Sharansky was elected the President of the Zionist Forum, an umbrella organization of former Soviet dissidents, was a contributing Editor to Jerusalem Report and a Board member of the Peace Watch. In 1989 the US President Ronald Reagan awarded him with the Medal of Freedom. Sharansky is the chairman and founder (1995) of the political party Yisrael B'Aliyah ("Israel for aliyah" or wordplay "Israel on the rise") promoting the absorption of the Soviet Jews into the Israeli society. The party won seven Knesset seats in 1996. In 1999 Sharanski was appointed as ministerof internal affairs but quit in 2000. Since 2003, Sharansky is a cabinet member of the Israeli government (the 2nd Ariel Sharon's government). His responsibilities are the Jewish Diaspora, Jerusalem, combating antisemitism and a specialy the New antisemitism which rose in the begining of the 21st century. His book The Case For Democracy (writen together with Ron Dermer) had a major influence on United States president George W. Bush and other government officials, who urged their subordinates to read the book."If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy read Natan Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy. . . . For government, particularly--for opinion makers, I would put it on your recommended reading list. It's short and it's good. This guy is a heroic figure, as you know. It's a great book." (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/bush.readinglist.tm/), [1] (http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/137redzw.asp)In this book, Sharansky postulates that freedom is essential for security and prosperity, and every people and nation deserve to live free in a democratic soicty. Sharanski argue that human rights, safety and stability can only be assured by releasing people from their oppressors and turn them into free societies when each would have the freedom to express his opinion. Therefore, he concludes, the free world must insist of promoting democracy for the oppressed people, instead of appeasing dictatorships and doing business with tyrant regiems, “I then explained why democracy was so crucial to international stability and security, why linkage had been so successful during the Cold War, and why the free world had betrayed its democratic principles at Oslo. I outlined my plan to help the Palestinians build a free society and help Israelis and Palestinians forge a lasting peace.” [2] (http://www.americandaily.com/article/5980)Sharansky takes what many of his critics within Israel say is a extreme hardline position against the Palestinians arguing that there can never be peace between Israel and the Palestinians until the latter rid their society of militant groups like Hamas and of anti-Semitism. Publications
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