Sharon improves as Israel faces future

With Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recovering from emergency brain surgery today, his doctors said it was still too early to assess how much damage the Israeli leader has suffered from a massive stroke. Independent experts said the prognosis remained grim.

Sharon, 77, underwent five hours of emergency brain surgery yesterday that doctors said successfully stopped a haemorrhage and relieved swelling inside his skull. Doctors reported “significant improvement”, but said he remained in serious condition.

The bleeding and swelling, while not unexpected, are life-threatening complications that make the prospect of survival ever slimmer, said Dr Anthony Rudd, a stroke specialist at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London.

“It sounds like a last desperate attempt to salvage something, but the prognosis must now be terrible,” he said.

Noting that a CT scan shows the structure – not the function – of the brain, Rudd said the improvement that Sharon’s doctors referred to likely applies to the reduction of swelling seen in the earlier scan.

Sharon’s grave condition threw Israeli politics into flux less than three months before national elections. Israeli officials said the elections would proceed as scheduled regardless of Sharon’s fate.

The new poll released yesterday showed Kadima would still sweep the vote, even without Sharon, who formed the party after bolting the hard-line Likud last year following Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Kadima’s platform seeks a compromise for peace with the Palestinians.

The poll published in the Yediot Ahronot daily found that an Olmert-headed Kadima would win 39 of 120 parliament seats, slightly fewer than the party polled under Sharon but enough to lead the next government.

The poll of 500 people was taken on Thursday and had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. Some pollsters said the results might be influenced by sympathy for Sharon and could change during the campaign.

The poll showed Peres would net 42 seats as Kadima leader, but analysts said it was unlikely he would be chosen to lead the party. Peres met with Olmert yesterday but did not give details of their talk.

“We will know how to continue Israel’s policy … to continue Ariel Sharon’s policies,” Peres said.

An official determination on Sharon’s condition will likely take place tomorrow, when doctors plan to wean him off the drugs that are keeping him in what they said is a medically induced coma.

Sharon suffered the stroke, his second in three weeks, late Wednesday, throwing the country into turmoil. His deputy, Ehud Olmert, was quickly named the acting prime minister.

Olmert took calls from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday, a sign that the Israeli government was moving ahead without its hard-charging leader.

Rice, who cancelled a six-day trip to Indonesia and Australia because of the Mideast situation, told Olmert that “every US citizen, from the president to the last citizen, are praying for Sharon’s health,” Olmert’s office said.

Key members in Sharon’s Kadima Party said they would rally around Olmert, easing concerns that the movement, founded by Sharon two months ago, might fracture in his absence. A new poll showed Kadima emerging victorious in March 28 elections under Olmert’s leadership.

Palestinian leaders, holding a parliamentary election of their own January 25, said they were in touch with Israeli officials about Sharon’s condition. “We are closely monitoring the situation,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

With little hope that Sharon would return to power, Israelis mostly clung to memories of the charismatic leader who left his mark on almost every aspect of Israeli life, fighting in all its battles and capping his legacy as an immensely popular prime minister.

“He’s like an old car. You know they don’t make old cars like that anymore,” said Haim Zanko, 23, of Tel Aviv, who prayed for Sharon at the Western Wall.