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Netanyahu wins primary, Sharon recovering
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-20 09:31
Doctors expect Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to recover fully from a mild
stroke and leave the hospital Tuesday, but his illness raised questions about
his long-term health and ability to lead Israel if he wins a third term next
year.
As the 77-year-old Sharon recovered, members of the hardline Likud Party,
which he quit last month to form the centrist Kadima Party, picked ex-premier
Benjamin Netanyahu to run for prime minister in the March 28 elections.
Polls from all three Israeli TV stations showed Netanyahu with 47 percent of
the vote åK½ï¿½ 15 percentage points more than his closest rival, Foreign Minister
Silvan Shalom. Shalom conceded defeat, and party officials did not wait for the
official count to declare Netanyahu the winner.
Likud Party members gather at a polling
station during elections for the party's primary in Jerusalem, Monday,
Dec. 19, 2005. [AP] | Netanyahu pledged Monday to
lead the party back to the top. "First of all we must bring the Likud back to
itself and then to the leadership of the country. It begins now, up, up and up,"
he said.
Kadima holds a commanding lead in the polls, but the party is built around
Sharon åK½ï¿½ Israel's oldest prime minister åK½ï¿½ and his health is likely to become a
major campaign issue.
Sharon, who is extremely overweight, was rushed to Hadassah University
Hospital in Jerusalem on Sunday evening after showing signs of confused speech,
doctors said.
Israel's former prime minister and newly
elected Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu speaks upon his victory in
Tel Aviv, December 20, 2005. [Reuters] | Doctors said he suffered a minor stroke when a small blood clot, which
quickly broke up, briefly blocked a blood vessel feeding his brain.
He never lost consciousness or suffered paralysis, and the stroke only
temporarily affected his speech, not his memory or cognitive abilities, they
said. Sharon was being treated with blood thinners.
"I can say confidently that the stroke will leave no damage or residual
effects," said his neurologist, Dr. Tamir Ben-Hur. "I would say chances are
excellent that he won't have another one."
Ben-Hur said Sharon, who held his daily staff meeting in the hospital Monday,
was competent to carry out his duties as prime minister. But Sharon aide Raanan
Gissin said it would take some time for him to resume his full schedule.
"Everyone who undergoes this kind of event, it does something to him in terms
of perceptions, in terms of the need to hold back and take it easy for a while,"
Gissin told The Associated Press.
Sharon was being kept in the hospital until Tuesday to ensure he rested,
Ben-Hur said.
The director of Sharon's office, Ilan Cohen, said the prime minister would
return to his Jerusalem residence and get a few days of rest before returning to
a full work schedule.
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