Sharon’s Stroke Could Imperil His New Party

CAIRO, Egypt – A new political party created by Prime Minister Sharon could be in peril after he suffered a mild stroke yesterday.Aides to Mr. Sharon yesterday said the Israeli leader was in control of the government and lucid after briefly losing consciousness. His personal doctor, Bolek Goldman, told the Associated Press the 77-year-old prime minister would be in the hospital for the next few days, but said, “unequivocally there is no damage.”The stroke, however, could throw Israeli politics into a tailspin as Israel prepares for elections scheduled for March 28. The race will be the first for Mr. Sharon’s new party, Kadima, which he created last month after announcing his decision to quit the party he founded a generation ago, Likud. While Kadima is faring well in opinion polls, which estimate it would win at least 35 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, analysts say the party would suffer without the prime minister. Today, Likud will hold parliamentary elections where a former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to win.In Washington, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, Meyrav Wurmser said Mr. Sharon’s party “does not stand without him.” She added, “If something serious does happen with him, the new party falls apart. And that means future negotiations will likely falter unless Amir Peretz and Labor can win in March.”Mr. Sharon’s health has been a lingering issue in the background of Israeli politics. In his last campaign for prime minister, he promised to release his health records to the public, but never did so. According to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, last March he joked about the matter saying, “If I publicize my medical records, it could negatively influence the health of others.” In that interview, according to the paper, he promised to look into releasing them but did not.Mr. Sharon angered the Likud faithful in July when he began to dismantle Jewish settlements in Gaza and hand over the territory to the Palestinian Authority. Nonetheless, he survived a vote of confidence within his party after the Gaza withdrawal. His decision to found his new party, Kadima, with a former Labor party leader, Shimon Peres, suggests that if Mr. Sharon wins in March, he will pursue negotiations over a Palestinian state.Mr. Sharon has yet to name a deputy for Kadima. Currently Israel’s deputy prime minister and Jerusalem’s mayor, Ehud Olmert, looks like a front-runner for the job. Mr. Olmert yesterday was shown on Israeli television watching a soccer match as news of Mr. Sharon’s stroke hit the wires.The immediate political effect of Mr. Sharon’s hospitalization will be felt in the Likud Party primaries scheduled for today. They are now between Mr. Sharon’s foreign minister, Sylvan Shalom, and Mr. Netanyahu. Mr. Shalom supported the Gaza withdrawal and Mr. Netanyahu did not. In the Jerusalem Post today, Gil Hoffman wrote, “Likud members who might have thought they were electing an opposition leader or a transportation minister in a Kadima-led government will realize that they could be electing the next prime minister. Turnout in the race, which was expected to hover around an embarrassingly low 50%, is liable to skyrocket.”In Gaza, al-Arabiya ran footage of Hamas leaders passing out sweets and shooting guns in the air upon hearing the news of Mr. Sharon’s ailment. News agencies reported that the Palestinian Authority’s leader, Mahmoud Abbas was watching the news closely.Also yesterday, the foreign policy chief for the European Union, Javier Solana, hinted that Europe’s funding for the Palestinian Authority may dry up if Hamas wins a majority in January’s parliamentary elections for the PA. “It would be very difficult for the help and the money that goes to the Palestinian Authority to continue to flow,” the Associated Press quoted Mr. Solana as saying. “The taxpayers in the European Union, members of the Parliament of the European Union, will not be in a position to sustain that type of political activity.” The European Union is the largest international donor to the Palestinian Authority pledging $312 million for 2006.On Friday the House passed a resolution also calling for America to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas assumed power. Last week Hamas politburo chief, Khaled Mishal appeared in Tehran for meetings with senior regime officials. In Tehran he threatened to counterattack if Israel were to strike the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.

Sharon’s Stroke Could Imperil His New Party

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