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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (11033)	1/4/2006 7:19:18 PM
From: michael97123	Respond to of 32591

cnn.com Sharon suffers 'significant' stroke Power transferred to Israel's deputy prime minister Wednesday, January 4, 2006; Posted: 7:01 p.m. EST (00:01 GMT) JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a "significant stroke" and was taken into surgery Wednesday night at a Jerusalem hospital, a hospital official said. The 77-year-old's powers of office were transferred to Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert shortly after Sharon arrived at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. The stroke was Sharon's second in less than three weeks. Sharon had been taken from his home in the south of Israel to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed a cerebral hemorrhage, or the bleeding of a blood vessel in the brain. "Given the fact that the treatment of the prime minister requires anesthetic, I spoke to the attorney general a few minutes ago and I spoke to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Olmert, and it's been decided that Mr. Olmert, who is at home ... should have powers transferred to him," said Cabinet Secretary Israel Maimon. The announcement came shortly after Sharon was taken by ambulance to the hospital after complaining of chest pain and weakness, his senior adviser, Ra'anan Gissin, told CNN. Sharon has been running for a third term as prime minister, with elections scheduled for the end of March. On December 18, he was taken to the same hospital after suffering what doctors later determined was a minor stroke. He was placed then on blood thinners, which are associated with an increased risk of spontaneous brain hemorrhages. He arrived Wednesday at the hospital shortly before 11 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) in an ambulance and entered the hospital's trauma unit via the emergency room, said Ron Krumer, a hospital spokesman. Israeli Channel 2 reported he was taken in on a stretcher. Sharon's illness came after a full day of meetings, though he has trimmed his workload since December 18, Gissin told CNN. Sharon's hospital admission came hours before he was to have undergone minor surgery Thursday for treatment of a small hole in his heart, which doctors have said led to the formation of a clot that caused him to suffer the December stroke. Although Sharon had difficulty speaking during the mild stroke, neurological testing found that he recalled everything from the night of his admission, Dr. Chaim Lotem said. Doctors said Sharon suffered no lasting brain damage. He was released from the hospital two days after the stroke and resumed working. With the elections near, many Israelis feel Sharon is the Israeli official best able to carry forward peace negotiations with the Palestinians. This year Sharon orchestrated Israel's historic pullout from Gaza in hopes of jump-starting the peace process. He recently broke with the conservative Likud bloc he helped found -- which did not support his pullout from Gaza and parts of the West Bank -- and is running for re-election as head of the moderate, newly formed Kadima Party. Nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for his stamina during meetings and long working hours, he had not been in ill health prior to the stroke. The popular veteran military and political figure is widowed and lives alone. Doctors have ordered the overweight prime minister to go on diet. Sharon's doctors said earlier this week that he weighed 118 kilograms (260.2 pounds) at the time of the stroke, and had lost 3 kilos (6.6 pounds) since then. Sharon's doctors said then that his blood pressure and cholesterol levels were normal, though he has an underactive thyroid gland -- common in overweight people. In Washington, a White House spokesman said the Bush administration has been in touch with the government of Israel since Sharon's most recent stroke. National security adviser Steven Hadley informed President Bush of the news, spokesman Scott McClellan told CNN. The two leaders have known each other since Bush was governor of Texas and had formed a close political bond that included a mutual antipathy toward dealing with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004.

To: michael97123 who wrote (11033)	1/5/2006 12:42:41 AM
From: Scoobah	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

Defense/Middle East Israel's Neighbors Warned "Not to Take Advantage" 05:02 Jan 05, '06 / 5 Tevet 5766 By Hillel Fendel Raanan Gissin, a close advisor to Prime Minister Sharon, that he would not advise any of Israel's neighbors to take advantage of the emergency situation Israel faces. "There is no vacuum here," Gissin told reporters at the hospital. "Ehud Olmert is the Acting Prime Minister, and the IDF is ready and strong." As Mr. Sharon was being operated on, at least eight Kassam rockets were fired by Arab terrorists in Gaza at the Sderot and south-of-Ashkelon areas. No casualties or damage were reported. With Olmert taking over the Prime Minister's duties as of Thursday morning, much of Israel's political scene has become very unclear. Technically, Olmert can make every decision a regularly elected Prime Minister can make, but the spirit of the law is that he must act with restraint, and not make far-reaching decisions. He is faced with the uncertainty of his new Kadima Party, which was founded by and based almost totally on the personality of Ariel Sharon. National elections are less than 12 weeks away and Kadima has no list of Knesset candidates - nor a mechanism for choosing one. The only development that may be able to be counted on is that the Likud ministers will not resign from the government this Sunday. They had planned to quit at the behest of Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu himself resigned from the government five months ago, just before the disengagement, but Ministers Naveh, Shalom, Livnat and Katz remain. Palestinian Authority Vice Chairman Nabil Shaath said, "On a personal level, we express sorrow at that which has happened to Sharon." He warned, however, that "politically, it will increase the uncertainty we face in anticipation of the renewal of the peace process." Most observers had predicted that terrorism against Israel could be expected to be strongly renewed following the PA elections three weeks from now. Violence directed against PA Chairman Abu Mazen increased in Gaza on Wednesday. Two Egyptian soldiers were shot dead after a mob of Gazan Arabs stormed across the Gaza-Egyptian border, known as the Philadelphi Route. The militants had mounted a show of force throughout Wednesday after one of their leaders was arrested for his involvement of the kidnapping of several foreigners. The PA police have been unable to control the outbreak of violence, and some policemen have initiated some violence themselves.

To: michael97123 who wrote (11033)	1/5/2006 10:39:24 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

Yep... very scary times in Israel now... Will it be Bibi who replaces him? That's FRIGHTENING!! But if it were Bibi, the appropriate amount of pressure on the part of the US and other nations, might lead to a functional peace process. Because Sharon was seen as someone who had the credibility with his conservative credentials, to engage in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Anyone seen as an "appeaser" of terrorists will not be able to influence the Ultra-Orthodox segment of the Israeli population. Hawk