Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in a critical but stable condition, a spokesman at Hadassah Hospital said on Sunday.
Doctors treating Sharon say they will meet on Sunday at Hadassah Hospital to discuss plans to reduce anesthesia so he can slowly wake up from a medically induced coma.
On Saturday, hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said tests indicated Sharon's condition was stabilising. Sharon suffered a major stroke on Wednesday.
A recent CT scan shows "slight improvement" in Sharon's brain, which required three surgeries to treat bleeding and swelling, Mor-Yosef said. He explained that the swelling that occurred on the right side of Sharon's brain has decreased.
Doctors won't know the extent of the damage to his brain or his overall condition until the anesthesia is reduced, Mor-Yosef said.
"Before we wake him up gradually and test his reactions as he emerges from his coma, we will not be able to answer this question," he said. "We as people are optimists. But I cannot say that he is out of danger."
Medical experts have said it is unlikely Sharon would recover enough to be able to lead the country, and even the prime minister's top aide, Ra'anan Gissin, seemed pessimistic on Friday.
"We don't know what condition he will be coming out of it, if he does," Gissin said.
However, Gissin seemed more optimistic after visiting Sharon on Saturday.
"He's got out of the dangerous zones and life-threatening situations more than the average person and, therefore, my belief is that he's going to pull through," Gissin said.
"Every day is another battle. The man is fighting for his life, but that's not the first time he's been doing it."
As a nation pondered life without the man who had directly or indirectly guided its policy for decades, Gissin insisted there will be "no political void" in Israel.
"I think Israel is the kind of democracy that has established procedures whether it's Sharon or anyone else to ensure unity and continuity," he said, adding that "at this moment, everybody's united. All the political battles end, and the government continues to function."
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Israel at crossroads
On Saturday, Jordan's King Abdullah called Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to express concern about Sharon's condition, Olmert's office said.
Abdullah emphasized the important relations between the two nations and stressed that Jordan wants to continue its relationship with the Israeli government, Olmert's office said.
Jordan is among the few nations in the region to recognize Israel and have diplomatic relations with its government.
Sharon's stroke comes at a politically sensitive time for his newly formed Kadima party, which faces its first national election, scheduled for March 28.
In November, Sharon abandoned the dominant right-wing Likud bloc he helped found in 1973. He had hoped to build support for his contentious proposal to turn over Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control, while dismantling some Israeli settlements.
Faced with strong opposition from his Likud counterparts, Sharon left the bloc and formed the centrist Kadima party, hoping to sow already fertile political ground.
By moving toward the center of the political spectrum, Sharon had planned to complete the West Bank withdrawal and conduct final negotiations with the Palestinians based on the "road map" for peace being pushed by the White House.
Before his debilitating stroke, polls showed that Kadima would dominate the elections and win the most seats in the Knesset, making it likely Sharon would remain prime minister.
Without Sharon, Kadima is still poised to win the most seats in parliament, according to a poll conducted by the Israeli media. But political observers say Kadima will need to swiftly anoint a new leader to prevent Likud and the center-left Labor Party from gaining ground.
Olmert, the deputy prime minister who joined Sharon in leaving Likud, will act in his place until the March 28 election, although it is unclear whether Kadima members will pick him as their permanent leader.
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