Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spent a ”peaceful night” in hospital after suffering a minor stroke and his condition ”remained good”, government officials said on Monday. The 77-year-old would be examined by doctors in the morning at
the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, a statement from Sharon’s office said, not specifying when he was expected to leave hospital.
The 77-year-old apparently felt unwell at his Jerusalem office following a day in which he had earlier met veteran statesman Shimon Perez but as he worked in his office he complained to his aides who decided to transfer him to the hospital.
Tests revealed a minor stroke and doctors said Sharon was likely remain in their care for the next three to four days. ”I feel fine,” Sharon was quoted as saying by aides. Israeli television said he had quipped to doctors: ”You’re not getting rid of me yet.”
”There is no reason for fear,” said his personal physician Boleslav Goldman. Professor Shmuel Shapira, director of the hospital, told reporters: ”The prime minister is conscious. He is undergoing tests. His condition is stable.”
Police closed off roads around the hospital as Sharon was transported in his usual security convoy. Israel TV said he was a little confused, but conscious, and communicating with his doctors. He had no difficulty moving his arms and legs. The prime minister underwent neurological examinations.
In an official statement made 45 minutes after the prime minister arrived, a spokesperson for the hospital told reporters that Sharon was fully conscious and was undergoing tests. ”Ariel Sharon was brought here at about 8pm. He has full consciousness and he’s undergoing medical examinations,” said Yuval Weiss, deputy manager of the hospital.
Ehud Olmert, the deputy Prime Minister, was expected to take over Sharon’s responsibilities until his recovery.
But Yisrael Maimon, the Cabinet secretary said that because the prime minister is ”functioning and communicating and talking, there is no relevance to the question of who will act in his place,” he told reporters. ”He himself asked to be released tonight to go home, and the doctors suggested he stay under observation.”
Sharon was visited by his sons, Omri and Gilad as well as his advisor and friend, Dov Weissglass. Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas and the Labour leader, Amir Peretz, sent their best wishes. But Jewish extremists in Hebron prayed for Sharon’s continued illness while Palestinians fired celebratory shots in Gaza City, according to reports.
Even if Sharon makes a complete recovery, his health will become a big issue in the forthcoming Israeli elections. The prime minister is very overweight and his admission to hospital will force voters and colleagues alike to focus on his mortality rather than his political abilities. The health of prime ministerial candidates in Israel has become an issue in the past after Golda Meir and Menachem Begin concealed serious illness from the electorate.
In recent years, Sharon’s health has increasingly become a political issue. At the last election he boasted that he would be willing to publish his health records although they never appeared.
Sharon is central to the electoral prospects of his new party, which opinion polls suggest will dominate the next Knesset. The party is defined by its leader rather than any policies and without the prime minister, Kadima — the new party, which he founded after leaving Likud — would be lost.
Yaron Ezrahi, a political scientist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem said that health problems would damage the prime minister politically as well as personally. ”This will weaken Kadima. History has an uncanny ability to remind planners of their own mortality. At his age the effect of a health scare can never be negligible and it will force everyone to focus on his age,” he said.
”One of the first moves Sharon must make if he recovers is to hint at a successor. He will need someone who can take the torch and carry it further. The problem is that some of his colleagues in Kadima are talented politicians but they do not begin to match Sharon’s stature,” said Ezrahi.
Sharon has never spoken openly about how he moved from being a major supporter of Jewish settlement in Palestinian areas to being the first premier to withdraw from settlements. He has also not spelled out the political direction he wants his new party to take so he would leave no clear legacy for the party he created. ”Sharon is driven by the late recognition of the necessity of fixing Israel’s borders as a matter of vital national importance. He has not disclosed the reason for his change of heart because he felt that it would incur too much political resistance to his plans,” said Ezrahi.
His hospitalisation came on the eve of a vote to pick Sharon’s successor to lead the Likud party. Opinion polls give an edge to ex-premier Binyamin Netanyahu, Sharon’s old rival who resigned as finance minister in protest at the withdrawal of Jewish settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.
Sharon’s new Kadima party and the centre-left Labour party both lead Likud in the polls. – Guardian Unlimited Â