Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died at the age of 85. Sharon spent the past eight years in a coma after suffering a stroke while in office. He played a major role in the history of Israel over a half century first as a fighter, later as a politician. Sharon was seen as the father of the settlement movement and the architect of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which killed a reported 20,000 Palestinians and Lebanese. As prime minister, he oversaw a deadly crackdown on the second Palestinian intifada after helping to spark it with a visit to the Temple Mount. He later carried out Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in what was billed as a move for peace, but what a top aide called an act of “formaldehyde” in order to “freeze the peace process” and strengthen Israel’s control over illegal settlements on the West Bank. Thousands of Israelis filed past Sharon’s coffin on Sunday ahead of his state funeral today. Vice President Joe Biden is among the foreign dignitaries in attendance. Watch our extended roundtable about Ariel Sharon’s legacy.