Sharon in hospital after stroke

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel was rushed to the hospital yesterday after suffering what his doctors said was a minor stroke, throwing another wild card into a volatile political season and prompting calls for the 77-year-old leader to disclose his medical records, which he has never made public.

Sharon was in stable condition and undergoing tests last night, according to doctors at Hadassah-Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem, where he was taken at about 8 p.m. They said he was being treated with blood thinners and was expected to be kept in the hospital for a few days.

Concerns about Sharon's health come at a time of uncertainty and flux in Israeli politics, and the prime minister's rivals were quick to cite his illness and excess weight as an extra risk the country cannot afford.

Israel should not be run by a man of Sharon's age who is ''a person at risk," Arieh Eldad, a parliament member from the right-wing National Union party, told Yediot Aharonot, Israel's largest daily, in remarks published on its website last night.

Raanan Gissin, Sharon's spokesman, arrived at the hospital last night to reassure throngs of reporters that the prime minister was ''on the way to full recovery," receiving military and political briefings three hours after his stroke and demanding, ''When can I get out of the hospital?"

Responding to reports that Israeli extremists were praying for Sharon's death and that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired gunshots in celebration, Gissin remarked: ''To paraphrase Mark Twain, their celebration is a bit premature."

Sharon's aides said last night that he remained lucid and in full control of the government.

Sharon shook the Israeli political scene last month when he abandoned the right-wing Likud party, his longtime political home, to found the centrist party Kadima, gambling that Israelis would back him in March 28 elections after he vowed to reach a final settlement with Palestinians. The left-wing Labor party is trying to establish a new identity under the new leadership of Amir Peretz, who unseated Labor's elder statesman. And today, several right-wing Likud figures will vie for the party leadership in a party primary.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party is reeling after Hamas, the militant group that has carried out many suicide bombings in Israel, won sweeping victories in municipal elections in several West Bank towns on Thursday.

Sharon, a career-long risk-taker, left Likud after he concluded he could no longer work with party hard-liners incensed over his decision to remove Israeli settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon's pitch to Israelis has always been a personal one -- whether selling his new party or urging them to remain calm and trust that the Gaza pullout will not lead to more suicide bombings and rocket attacks.

In his speech the day he left Likud, he urged them to trust in his ''responsible, experienced, and creative leadership," telling them, '' I have served the State of Israel for over 60 years. I know its fields, borders, even its smells."

But that personalized pitch has drawn fire from critics who say Kadima's weakness is that it rests on the reputation of one man, not a party structure or ideology -- a weakness drawn into sharp relief as Sharon was wheeled into the hospital.

Mordechai Nisan, a lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at Hebrew University who follows right-leaning Israeli politics, called Kadima ''a one-man party" beholden to Sharon.

''There's no party without him," he said in a recent interview, adding that Sharon was complicating the development of Israeli politics by starting a new party ''toward the end of his political career."

Yesterday, politicians across the spectrum offered Sharon their best wishes. But at the hospital, aides to Sharon were seen huddling over how to handle the illness in the campaign, and rivals sought to portray it as a political vulnerability.

''The case before us requires the prime minister to reveal his medical condition to the public," Eldad said after wishing Sharon a speedy recovery.

Gissin declined to say in an interview whether Sharon's full medical record would be released, but said it is ''the envy of people half his age," adding, ''I have to swim 120 laps a day to keep up with him."

Sharon was working in his office when he began to feel unwell, according to the prime minister's office.

One orderly at the hospital said he wheeled in the prime minister, who ''looked like a candidate for intensive care." One nurse said she tried to check on him, but was pushed away by security guards as the hospital was cordoned off and all but urgent patients were banned from entering.

A medic quoted by the Israeli daily Ha'aretz said Sharon lost consciousness on the way to the hospital, a report the prime minister's office disputed. Shortly after arriving, he was conscious, according to medical staff.

''He has full consciousness and he's undergoing medical examinations," said Yuval Weiss, deputy manager of the hospital. Sharon was transferred to an internal medicine ward.

Sharon's sons, Gilad and Omri, arrived at the hospital shortly after him, as well as Finance Minister Ehud Olmert and aide Dov Weissglas.

Olmert would take over the premiership if Sharon were incapacitated, officials said.

Later in the evening, Sharon's office issued a statement declaring that Sharon was ''fully conscious the entire time" and that his condition improved as he was undergoing tests.

''He did not require invasive procedures," the statement said.

Globe correspondent Alon Tuval contributed to this report.