Jerusalem, January 04: Ariel Sharon, the tough Army general turned premier who shocked his hawkish supporters by pulling Israel out of Gaza in 2005, is still lying unconscious in a hospital bed, friends said on Sunday on the fourth anniversary of the massive stroke that put him in a coma.
Sharon, 81, led Israel from 2001 until the January 2006 stroke that left him comatose.
Dov Weisglass, a close friend of Sharon and his former spokesman, said that Sharon’s vital signs are good but it was not clear if he would ever regain consciousness. Medical experts have said that is most unlikely.
Sharon was a daring Army officer who reached the rank of major general In the 1970s, sometimes disobeying orders from his superiors. After leaving the Army, Sharon turned to politics, becoming a hawkish lawmaker in the Likud Party and an enthusiastic supporter of the movement to settle the West Bank with Israelis.
-PTI