Michael Blum

Israel on Tuesday threatened a tougher response to Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, faced with a general strike in the town of Sderot to protest the salvos. "The prime minister, others and myself have reached the conclusion no one will be protected if … [it] continues," chairperson of Israel’s parliamentary defence and foreign affairs committee Tsahi Hanegbi said.

Israeli politics resumed in earnest on Thursday as four Likud ministers were set to hand in letters of resignation while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained "serious but stable" after a massive brain haemorrhage. A series of upbeat medical reports from the hospital where he is in intensive care have sunk a truce in electioneering for a March poll.

Doctors treating Ariel Sharon were on Tuesday to continue the process of waking the critically ill Israeli leader from a coma a day after he responded positively to initial tests to assess the damage caused by a massive brain haemorrhage. Medics on Monday began the process of trying to rouse the ailing premier.

For Eitan Braun, a Jewish settler in the Gaza Strip, the equation is simple: "If Ariel Sharon falls, I get to keep my house." If the Israeli Prime Minister has his way, Braun and 8 000 fellow settlers will be uprooted from their homes next year as part of a wider plan that also envisages the strengthening of Israeli control over West Bank settlements.
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