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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners December 19, 2005 |
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Despite suffering a mild stroke, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon does not have any major health problems and will be released from the hospital on Tuesday, his doctors said Monday.
Sharon never lost consciousness and the stroke caused no damage to the prime minister, Dr. Tamir Ben-Hur said, adding that Sharon was competent to perform his activities as prime minister.
Sharon was admitted to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital late Sunday after complaining of weakness. Doctors said he had suffered a mild stroke when a small blood clot briefly blocked the blood vessels feeding his brain. He had trouble speaking temporarily, but suffered no permanent damage, they said.
"The problem was very small, not neurological or cognitive problems. (It) was limited to speech," said Ben-Hur, who was Sharon's neurologist.
"He is now getting blood thinners. There are excellent chances for recovery," he said. "We want him to rest, and that is one of the reasons that he is staying until tomorrow ... once he is released, he won't get any rest," Ben-Hur said.
Cabinet Secretary Israel Maimon said he and Military Secretary Gadi Shamni briefed Sharon in the hospital, and that the prime minister joked with aides, and was able to walk around his room and shower by himself. "He's lucid, he's fully functional," said Sharon aide Raanan Gissin.
Maimon said Sharon was rushed to the hospital after aides sensed confusion in his speech.
Sharon, 77 and very overweight, has been a political fixture of Israeli politics for more than three decades. His illness comes a little more than three months before he is to lead his new Kadima Party into national elections, and his illness could hamper his efforts to finish building the nascent centrist faction, which has a commanding lead in the polls.
The stroke was almost certain to make Sharon's health a major campaign issue, but it would have little immediate effect on Israeli policy or peace efforts, since no major decisions were expected during the campaign.
The Web site of the Haaretz daily reported that one of its reporters spoke to Sharon late Sunday night.
"I'm fine," Haaretz quoted Sharon as saying. "Apparently I should have taken a few days off for vacation. But we're continuing to move forward," he said, making a play on the name of his party, Kadima, which means "forward."
Sharon received get well messages from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. envoy Elliot Abrams, who was speaking on behalf of the U.S. government, Gissin said.
In Gaza, however, dozens of armed Palestinians fired guns in the air, screamed "Sharon is dead" and handed out pastries to motorists on the streets of Gaza City in celebration of the news that Sharon was ill.
Palestinian militants view Sharon, who led Israel's fight against the five-year Palestinian uprising, as a hated enemy, despite his pullout from the Gaza Strip earlier this year.
Sharon grew weak and confused Sunday evening soon after a meeting with former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who is supporting the new Kadima party in the upcoming election. The premier was immediately rushed to the hospital in his official vehicle and he was taken directly to the emergency room, media reports said. Sharon's sons, Omri and Gilad, rushed to the hospital to be by his side.
If Sharon were incapacitated, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, a close Sharon ally, would take over the day-to-day running of the government.
But Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon said that would not be necessary.
"Because the prime minister is functioning and communicating and talking, there is no relevance to the question of who will act in his place," he told reporters. "He himself asked to be released tonight to go home, and the doctors suggested he stay under observation."
Sharon, a former army general, was elected prime minister in 2001, months after the beginning of nearly five years of Israel-Palestinian violence. Sharon led the Israeli crackdown on the Palestinian uprising. Then he led Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank last summer, after 38 years of occupation.
Following the Gaza pullout, Sharon threw the Israeli political map into disarray as he prepared to run for a third term in office in March 28 elections.
Sharon split from the Likud Party, which he helped found three decades ago, to form Kadima, saying that his old party had become too extreme.
Polls show that Sharon's new party - which includes more than a dozen former Likud lawmakers - would finish far ahead of other parties, all but guaranteeing he would form the next government and remain prime minister for a third term. However, the party is built around Sharon, and if he were to be incapacitated, it would almost certainly suffer a blow in the polls.
Sharon's health and age have always lurked in the background of his term as prime minister.
The ex-army general has never released his medical records but has insisted in recent years that he is not suffering from any serious ailments.
The AP contributed to this report.
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