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In Israel, a grim vigil for Sharon

Emergency brain surgery leaves the prime minister's condition improved, but his prognosis is dire.

JERUSALEM - As the Sabbath descended on the Jewish state, the vigil for Ariel Sharon became increasingly somber.

The 77-year-old Israeli leader's family and aides grimly remained at the hospital, and dozens of e-mailed prayers from around the world were stuck into the cracks of the Western Wall, one of Jerusalem's holiest shrines. Some Israelis watched nonstop TV broadcasts, waiting for medical updates.

"All that is left to do is to pray," said Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger.

Sharon underwent five hours of emergency brain surgery Friday that doctors said successfully stopped a hemorrhage and relieved swelling inside his skull. Officials said his condition showed "significant improvement" but experts said the prognosis remained dire.

Sharon's chief surgeon said it was too early to assess how much damage the prime minister, who underwent a similar operation Thursday, had suffered. That determination will have to wait until at least Sunday, when doctors plan to wean him off the drugs that are keeping him in a state they described as a medically induced coma.

In a sign that the Israeli government was moving ahead without its hard-charging leader, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took calls Friday from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Sharon's Kadima Party said it would rally around Olmert.

Palestinian leaders, holding a parliamentary election of their own Jan. 25, said they were in touch with Israeli officials about Sharon's condition. "We are closely monitoring the situation," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

The White House declined to speculate on how Sharon's illness could affect the peace process.

"The United States view of the Middle East is that the desire for progress and peace runs wide and deep," spokesman Trent Duffy said. "The president continues to pray for the recovery of Prime Minister Sharon."

Rice, who canceled a six-day trip to Indonesia and Australia, told Olmert that "every U.S. citizen, from the president to the last citizen, are praying for Sharon's health," according to Olmert's office.

"Despite the difficult situation, this evening Israeli citizens have a little more hope," Olmert told her.

Sharon was rushed into the operating room Friday morning after a brain scan indicated rising cranial pressure and further brain hemorrhaging.

The Hadassah Hospital director, Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, said the new surgery Friday helped stabilize Sharon's condition.

The chief neurosurgeon operating on Sharon, Dr. Felix Umansky, said Sharon came through the surgery well but was likely to have suffered damage.

"There is always some damage when you have cerebral hemorrhage," he said. "We cannot assess the damage because he is under anesthesia all the time. We need to wait and see what will happen once we reduce the medication which keeps him under sedation."

It was unclear whether the new bleeding was from a second rupture of the same blood vessel that caused the original massive stroke or a break in another vessel, which would constitute a new stroke. New bleeding from the stroke-causing blood vessel in the first few days after a hemorrhagic stroke is a common cause of death in patients. Another chief killer of such patients is swelling of the brain.

Independent doctors said Sharon's chances for recovery were slim, and Sharon's aides said they were working on the assumption he would not return to work.

The surgery Friday followed a seven-hour operation Sharon underwent Thursday after he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage as he rode in an ambulance to the hospital from southern Israel.

Sharon's grave condition threw Israeli politics into flux less than three months before national elections. Israeli officials said the elections would proceed as scheduled regardless of Sharon's fate.

[Last modified January 7, 2006, 01:25:29]