Sharon ‘opens eyes’ but medics sceptical

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened his eyes twice yesterday after family members played a tape of his grandson’s voice, aides said, raising hopes the 77-year-old stroke victim may be emerging from a coma.

But a spokeswoman for Hadassah hospital said relatives had observed “eyelid movements” whose medical significance was unclear.

One aide said: “(Mr Sharon’s son) Gilad brought in a cassette with voice of Rotem, his eldest grandson, speaking to him, and he opened his eyes twice, each time for two or three minutes.

“But the doctors didn’t see it, so it is hard to determine whether it is serious or whether they are just getting their hopes up.”

Doctors have been unsuccessful so far in rousing Mr Sharon from an induced a coma aimed at stopping his brain from swelling.

In another sign Israel is moving quickly to fill the political vacuum, Mr Sharon’s Kadima party named interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as acting chairman to lead it into a March 28 general election.

At a meeting, Mr Olmert announced replacements from within the centrist party for cabinet ministers from the right-wing Likud who quit over the weekend in the run-up to the ballot.

In the most high-profile appointment, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, widely seen in Israel as a rising star, will become foreign minister.

Opinion polls predict that Kadima will easily win the election.

Mr Olmert, a former mayor of Jerusalem, served as Mr Sharon’s deputy in the cabinet and was a strong supporter of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

He and his cabinet gave the go-ahead on Sunday for limited voting in Arab East Jerusalem in the January 25 Palestinian elections.

But Israel banned Hamas, running in a parliamentary ballot for the first time, from campaigning there.

Hamas, which advocates Israel’s destruction, is widely popular among Palestinians for a charity network and anti-corruption policies.