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Ehud Barak ) (born February 12, 1942, in Mishmar HaSharon kibbutz, then British Mandate of PalestineEhud Barak is an Israeli politician and was the 10th Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001. He is also considered the most decorated soldier in IDF history.

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Barak joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1959 and served for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf, the highest in the Israeli military. During his service as a commando, Barak took part in a covert mission (Operation Spring of Youth, Beirut 1973) in which he was disguised as a woman in order to gain access to terrorists. Barak was awarded the "Distinguished Service Medal" and four other citations for courage and operational excellence.

Meanwhile, Barak earned his bachelor's degree in Physics and Mathematics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1976, and his master's degree in Engineering-Economic Systems in 1978 from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States.

In politics, he served as Minister of the Interior (1995) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995-1996). He was elected to the Knesset in 1996, where he served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In 1996 Barak became the leader of the Labor Party.

Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister of Israel on May 17th, 1999 and completed his term on March 7th, 2001 after his loss to Ariel Sharon in a February special election for prime minister.

Barak's term as prime minister had several notable events, most of them controversial:

Meretz quits the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy-minister in the Ministry of Education.The kidnapping of the bodies of three killed Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, aided by local UN peacekeeping force.The Camp David 2000 Summit which meant to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and US president Bill Clinton put the blame on Yasser Arafat. Barak claimed he exposed "Arafat's true intentions". Later, Barak was blamed by Israeli left wing politicians that he killed the Israeli peace movement by presenting Arafat as a "peace refuser".The killing of 13 Israeli-Arabs by police and one Jewish Israeli civilian by an Arab mob, in October 2000 Riots.

After losing the 2001 elections to Ariel Sharon's Likud party by a landslide, Barak left Israel to work as a senior adviser with U.S.-based Electronic Data Systems. He also partnered at private equity company with focus on "security-related" work.

In 2005, Barak announced his return to Israeli politics, and ran for leadership of the Labour party in November. However, in light of his weak poll showings, Barak dropped out of the race early and declared his support for veteran statesman Shimon Peres.

After Peres lost the race to Amir Peretz and left the Labour party, Barak announced he would stay in the party, despite his shaky relationship with its newly elected leader. However, he has declared he would not run for a spot on the Labour party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections.

Volume 49, Number 10 · June 13, 2002 Email to a friend Exchange Camp David and After: An Exchange (1. An Interview with Ehud Barak)