New Signs Of Recovery For Sharon
Reports He Has Moved Left Side, Area Most Affected By His Stroke
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Play CBS Video Video Sharon Still Critical, Stable CBS News RAW: Hadassah Hospital's Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was showing slight improvement, but that his condition is still "severe, critical and stable."
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a cabinet meeting in September. (Getty Images/Kevin Frayer)
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Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sits next to Sharon's empty chair at a cabinet meeting, Jan. 5, 2006. (AP)
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An Israeli woman touches a sign she made with wishes for Sharon, after praying for his health outside Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Jan. 10, 2006. (AP)
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A Jewish man blows a shofar, or ram's horn, decorated with an orange ribbon in support of Israeli settlers, during prayers at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, in Jerusalem's Old City, Jan. 10, 2006. (AP)
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Interactive Ariel Sharon A look at the life of Israel's 11th prime minister
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Interactive Mideast Conflict Events, key players and a history of the world's most unstable region.
The reported improvement came a day after Sharon slightly moved his right arm and leg in response to pain stimulation and started breathing on his own. Sharon, 77, remained hooked up to a respirator and unconscious in a guarded room where classical music, including Mozart, is being played.
Israelis were breathing a collective sigh of relief now that doctors say Sharon has a good chance to survive, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger, but they're concerned that Sharon may be paralyzed and his ability to think may be impaired. It's hard for Israelis to come to terms with the tough former general and war hero and energetic prime minister confined to a wheelchair.
Also, an Israeli newspaper reported that Sharon was suffering from a brain disease that, in combination with the blood thinners he started taking after an initial stroke Dec. 18, could have increased his risk for another stroke. Doctors refused to comment.
Doctors said it would be days before they could assess the damage to Sharon's brain from the cerebral hemorrhage he suffered Wednesday. A final medical analysis on Sharon's long-term prognosis would end days of uncertainty over the fate of the prime minister, heralded by many as the best hope for Mideast peace.
On that front, Israel's defense minister said Israel will permit Arabs in Jerusalem to vote in Palestinian elections scheduled for Jan. 25. The decision appeared to resolve a standoff that had threatened to derail the balloting and heighten frictions between Israel and the Palestinians at this sensitive time.
The issue was widely seen as a key test for acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Polls show that the 60-year-old Olmert has a good chance to win elections in March.
"He's been in politics an awfully long time, he's been in Knesset (parliament) for a long time, he's a lawyer by training, he's very smart and savvy," said Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz.
But Berger points out Olmert will be facing with another smart and savvy politician, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What Olmert has going for him is that he is the right-hand man of the popular Sharon.
Olmert's first diplomatic test as acting prime minister was whether to let Palestinians vote in east Jerusalem in parliamentary elections.
Israel had been threatening to prevent voting in Jerusalem because it was reluctant to be seen as granting any kind of legitimacy to the Islamic group Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction and is running in the balloting.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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