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Bibi Netanyahu (AP file photo)
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| By Associated Press January 9, 2006 |
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israelis were unified Sunday as they prayed for the recovery of ailing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
While avoiding political questions, Netanyahu called Sharon, who was in critical condition after suffering a massive stroke Wednesday, one of Israel's greatest warriors and politicians.
"History will judge him as the great leader that he is," said Netanyahu, a likely contender for prime minister in March 28 elections. "I don't think time will judge Sharon harshly in the larger perspective of his contributions to Israel's security."
With his larger-than life persona, Sharon, 77, was widely seen by Israelis as the man most capable of untangling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sharon's days as prime minister are likely over, but a senior hospital official said it's too early to assess Sharon's prospects for survival. On Sunday, a scan of Sharon's brain showed improvement.
"There's unity in the country in the hopes that this particular man, who's now battling for his life, Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel, wins that battle," Netanyahu told CNN's "Late Edition."
Shimon Peres, Israel's elder statesman and a Sharon ally, said "the country is in pain" but praised Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as qualified to run the government and endorsed him for the March elections.
"The man has a lot of experience," Peres told CNN. "He will clearly continue the policies of Mr. Ariel Sharon."
Netanyahu, a hard-liner who quit his post as finance minister in Sharon's government last year, refused to answer questions about Israeli politics.
"When the prime minister of Israel and one of the great heroes of Israel is battling for his life, we can wait," he said when asked about the government's future.
Netanyahu, who was prime minister from 1996-99, said Israelis were closely following news of Sharon's struggle. "They're glued to their television, praying and hoping that he'll succeed," he said.
Before his collapse, Sharon appeared headed to win a third term in office at the head of Kadima, a new, centrist party he formed to build on the momentum created by his seminal summer withdrawal of soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sharon's illness was a "volcano erupting in Israel. As Palestinians, we happen to live in the slopes of this volcano."
Erekat criticized Palestinians who celebrated the news of Sharon's collapse and encouraged Olmert to restart peace talks.
"We offer him our hands and urge him to consider coming back and resuming negotiations immediately," he said on CNN. "This may sound as wishful thinking, but to Mr. Olmert, I tell him, the only way to bring this vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence is resuming negotiations."
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