Israeli leader Sharon fights for his life
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-06 06:54

Foreign leaders, who embraced Sharon after his unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip last year, also expressed concern.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Sharon as "a man of enormous courage," and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was praying for a miraculous recovery. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi postponed a visit to the region, and two U.S. envoys who were to arrive Thursday delayed their trip.

Jews pray at the Western Wall, Judaism holiest site, in Jerusalem Thursday Jan. 5, 2006. [AP]

Two prominent rabbis went to Sharon's room on the heavily guarded seventh floor of the hospital and prayed along with his family, one of them, Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri, told Israel Radio. He added that his father, leading Jewish mystic David Batzri, held Sharon's hand to direct a prayer toward him.

"We saw the greatest doctors standing beside him and watching over him all the time and trying to treat him," Yitzhak Batzri said. "He is unconscious as everyone knows and the small happiness that we have is that we saw the family is strong, the family believes, the family is praying and hoping."

Under Israeli law, vice premier Olmert took office as acting prime minister. He held an emergency Cabinet meeting Thursday — sitting beside Sharon's empty seat — and said the government would continue to function.

"This is a difficult situation," Olmert, a former Jerusalem mayor, told the ministers.

He later spoke with Abbas by telephone. The Palestinian leader expressed concern for Sharon and wished him a speedy recovery, Palestinian officials said.

Attorney General Meni Mazuz announced that the Israeli election would be held as planned. Sharon was to face off against the new head of his former Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Labor Party leader Amir Peretz.

Sharon had been expected to win in a landslide as head of Kadima, which he formed after bolting Likud late last year. Many Likud lawmakers tried to torpedo the Gaza withdrawal and Sharon formed Kadima to free his hands to make further peace moves with the Palestinians.

His stroke clouded his party's prospects.

"I can't see another person who will emerge who is as strong as Sharon," said political analyst Menachem Hofnung. "The party is in trouble."

Haim Ramon, a Kadima lawmaker, said the party needed to rally around Olmert.

"We have to convince the public that the group that came together with Sharon will fill the political, ideological, societal void, which is needed for the country to go on," he told Channel 2.

A snap poll Thursday showed an Olmert-led Kadima would still win 40 of 120 seats, similar to the results under Sharon. Under former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, the party would get 42 seats, according to the Channel 10-Haaretz poll. The number of people polled and the margin of error were not given.