Sharon unlikely to return to power

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke makes it unlikely that he will return to power.

Vice Premier Ehud Olmert was named acting prime minister and convened the cabinet for a special session yesterday, where Mr Sharon’s large chair at the centre of the long oval table remained empty. “This is a difficult situation that we are not accustomed to,” Mr Olmert told the sombre ministers.

A brain scan after surgery showed that the bleeding had been stopped, and the 77-year-old prime minister was transferred to the intensive care unit, said Dr Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

At a mid-afternoon briefing, Mr Mor-Yosef said Mr Sharon was in serious but stable condition on a respirator in “deep sedation”. He will remain sedated for another 24 hours at least, Mr Mor-Yosef said.

Mr Sharon’s sudden turn for the worse, at the height of his popularity, stunned Israelis, who had relied on the tough ex-general to steer them through turbulent times. Rabbis called on Israelis to flock to synagogues to pray.

The daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot ran a headline that read: “The last battle.”

Close Sharon associates said they did not expect him to return to office.

Despite his illness, Israel’s elections will be held as scheduled on March 28, Attorney General Meni Mazuz said after the cabinet meeting.

The March election could be delayed if 80 of 120 MPs support such a move. But a postponement appears unlikely.

Mr Sharon had been expected to easily win re-election at the head of the moderate Kadima Party he created to free his hands for further peace moves with the Palestinians.

Many Israelis see Mr Sharon - an overweight war hero and longtime hawk who changed tack and withdrew from the Gaza Strip last year - as the best hope for achieving a peace deal with the Palestinians. His illness would create a power vacuum in the government and cloud Kadima’s prospects.

Israeli financial markets were rocked by the news. The shekel seesawed throughout the day, and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s blue chip TA-25 index, which plunged as much as 6.2% in early trading, ended down 3.9% in heavy trading.

Sharon aide Raanan Gissin warned that if any of Israel’s foes tried to “exploit this situation ... the security forces and IDF [Israeli military] are ready for any kind of challenge”.

By law, Mr Olmert assumed the post of acting prime minister for 100 days. If Mr Sharon should die, the cabinet would choose a replacement, said legal analyst Moshe Negbi.

Mr Sharon re-emerged as prime minister in 2001, soon after the outbreak of a new round of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Two years later, he reversed his decades-long course of supporting Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, pushing through a plan to withdraw from Gaza and part of the West Bank. The pull-out was completed in September.

The withdrawal fractured Likud and he bolted to form Kadima. He was compiling a list of candidates for the election when he fell ill.

In the election, Mr Sharon was to face off against Likud’s candidate, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Amir Peretz, the union leader who recently took control of the dovish Labour Party.

Mr Olmert, who could emerge as Mr Sharon’s successor as head of Kadima, would likely have a far tougher time in the election than Mr Sharon.