Bad news today out of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a dominant figure for decades in shaping the Middle East, was fighting for his life on Thursday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.
“It looks very bad. I don’t know if he will recover,” said a senior political source after Sharon, 77, was rushed in an ambulance from his ranch in southern Israel to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem late on Wednesday.
Sharon’s death or incapacitation would cause political upheaval in Israel ahead of a March 28 general election he had been expected to win on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians. He has been prime minister since 2001.
Hopes of any peace talks would be given another setback at a time of growing violence and increasing Palestinian turmoil.
“He has significant, massive cerebral bleeding … the aim of the operation is to drain it,” Hadassah hospital director Shmuel Shapira said.
Sharon was still in surgery after over five hours. His spokesman, Raanan Gissin, described his condition as stable.
But Haaretz newspaper said on its Web site that Sharon was paralyzed in half of his body, and medical experts agreed the prime minister was unlikely to pull through the operation without his faculties being at least seriously impaired.
“With all due caution, it appears as though the era of Sharon leading Israel has reached its tragic end,” wrote Aluf Ben, Haaretz’s diplomatic correspondent.
My best wishes for the prime minister and especially for his family.