Israelis keep national vigil after Sharon surgery
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-07 19:31

Israelis kept a nationwide vigil for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday after he underwent emergency surgery to staunch renewed bleeding in his brain from a massive stroke.

Doctors at the hospital where Sharon lay in critical but stable condition said it could be days before they knew how much damage he had suffered. But medical experts believe that if he survives it is extremely unlikely he will ever return to work.

Sharon, kept in what doctors called a medically induced coma, was taken for a new brain scan on Saturday morning. Results were expected to be released at a news briefing at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT), a hospital spokeswoman said.

The death or incapacitation of Sharon, 77, who raised peace hopes by pulling Israeli settlers and troops out of Gaza in September to end 38 years of military rule, would create a huge vacuum in Israeli politics and the Middle East peace process.

At Jerusalem synagogues where the Jewish Sabbath was being observed and at Tel Aviv beach cafes where youths carried surfboards under their arms, Israelis anxiously awaited word on the ex-general's fate after a five-hour operation on Friday.

"We're all praying for him. He is a giant of our nation," said Jonathan Eilat, 47, wearing a prayer shawl at Jerusalem's Western Wall, the holiest site of Jewish worship.

Sharon's two sons maintained a vigil at his bedside. A 4-year-old Israeli boy arrived at the hospital with his family carrying a hand-drawn get-well card for the prime minister.

World leaders pledged support for Sharon's deputy, Ehud Olmert, named acting prime minister.

Surgeons at Hadassah hospital staunched renewed bleeding in Sharon's brain on Friday but said they would only be able to assess the extent of damage in days ahead when he is weaned off drugs that they said were keeping him in an induced coma.

He was on a respirator after the operation, his third since being rushed to the hospital on Wednesday.

"There is always damage in cases like these. We have to wait to see how he will react when we lessen the dosage of the medications that are keeping him sedated," neurosurgeon Felix Umansky told reporters late on Friday.

The hospital director said Sharon's initial brain scan after surgery showed "significant improvement". No further bulletins were expected until after the Sabbath ends at sundown.

Throughout the Jewish state, radios were tuned to news broadcasts for any scrap of new information on Sharon, who dominated Israeli politics in recent years like no figure since founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.

Stations played the national anthem and melancholy ballads and psychologists were interviewed about the national mood.