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Report: Sharon undergoes emergency surgery
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-06 18:21
Aides to Sharon said they were working on the assumption he would not return
to work.
Sharon's supporters prayed for his recovery. Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo
Amar advised Israelis of which psalms to read as part of their prayers for
Sharon.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch of the Western Wall said he received dozens of
e-mails praying for Sharon's health that he printed out and stuck in the cracks
of the holy site. Callers from as far away as Venezuela and the United States
asked for advice in praying for Sharon, he said.
Svetlana Kremitsky, a hospital worker who brings food to the patients in
Sharon's ward, said the hospital was filled with worry.
"You can feel it in the air, we're all concerned," she said.
Sharon's deputy, Ehud Olmert, has taken the reins as acting prime minister
and tried to convey a sense of stability. Leaders of Sharon's new Kadima Party
said they would rally around Olmert and a new poll released Friday showed Kadima
would still sweep March elections, even without Sharon.
Doctors said it would take time to determine how much damage was caused by
the widespread stroke Sharon suffered Wednesday night adding that media reports
of permanent, significant damage were irresponsible.
Sharon's collapse less than three months before national elections also left
his Kadima party, which he formed in November, in limbo.
In the short-term, Israelis appeared to still be supporting Kadima. A poll
published in the Yediot Ahronot daily Friday found that an Olmert-headed Kadima
would win 39 of 120 parliament seats, the most of any party and slightly less
than the party polled under Sharon.
The dovish Labor Party would get 20 seats, and the hard-line Likud, which
Sharon left to form Kadima, would capture 16 seats, according to the poll. The
poll of 500 people was taken Thursday. It had an error margin of 4.4 percentage
points. Some pollsters said the results might be influenced by sympathy for
Sharon, and could change during the three-month campaign.
Peres would net 42 seats as head of Kadima, but some analysts said it was
unlikely he would be chosen to lead the new party. He met with Olmert on Friday,
but did not give details.
"We will know how to continue Israel's policy ... to continue Ariel Sharon's
policies," Peres told reporters.
Palestinians reacted to the fall of their longtime enemy with a mix of glee
and apprehension. Some Palestinian leaders worried that Sharon's illness could
derail their Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. "We are watching with great worry
at what might happen if he is harmed," said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas,
who called Olmert to express wishes for Sharon's recovery.
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