Sharon undergoes surgery for cerebral bleeding

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was rushed to hospital last night after suffering a major stroke and a senior source said he feared there may be no chance of recovery from a brain haemorrhage.

Mr Sharon, a hefty 77-year-old ex-general, has for decades been a key figure in shaping the Middle East.

He has dominated the political stage in the Jewish state and was widely expected to win re-election in March on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians.

Mr Sharon’s prime ministerial powers were transferred temporarily to his deputy, Ehud Olmert, cabinet secretary Yisrael Maimon told reporters outside Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.

“The diagnosis is a significant stroke. The prime minister has been anaesthetised and is on a breathing device,” Hadassah chief Shlomo Mor-Yosef said.

He said Mr Sharon suffered a brain haemorrhage and would undergo an operation immediately to try to stop the bleeding. “It looks very bad. I don’t know if he will recover,” said one senior political source.

Mr Sharon is very much a one-man show and if he had to leave the scene it would inevitably mean major political upheaval. Recent polls have not shown Olmert to be seen as a long-term successor.

The Israeli leader, who orchestrated a pullout from the Gaza Strip last September to end 38 years of occupation, that raised hopes for Middle East peace, suffered what doctors described as a mild stroke on December 18.

He took ill at his Sycamore ranch in southern Israel yesterday, on the eve of a scheduled operation to repair a tiny hole in his heart thought to have contributed to his stroke last month. Mr Sharon spent several days in hospital but ploughed back into a punishing public schedule ahead of an Israeli general election scheduled for March 28

Opinion polls have shown Mr Sharon, prime minister since 2001, was on course to win the ballot as leader of the new centrist Kadima faction.