1/4/2006: Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suffered a significant stroke and requires surgery to stop bleeding in his brain. After hours of treatment his condition appears to be worsening. According to a neurosurgeon interviewed by Haaretz, the chance that Sharon will survive is very slim. Even if he survives, the 77-year-old is not expected to ever regain leadership of the country.

Sharon was one of the main planners of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and was widely blamed as being responsible for the massacre of thousands of civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. On September 28, 2000 Sharon provoked a riot at the al-Aqsa mosque when he visted the Temple Mount with 1,000 Israeli troops and proclaimed the area eternal Israeli territory. The rioting soon spread and became the second Intifada. Less than a year later, Sharon was elected Prime Minister of Israel. In August 2005, Sharon pulled Israeli settlers out of Gaza in a move which split his Likud party. On November 21, 2005, Sharon resigned as head of Likud, and dissolved parliament to form a new centrist party called Kadima. With Sharon's incapacitation, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is Acting Prime Minister of Israel.
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