3 Likud ministers leave Israeli Cabinet

JERUSALEM -- Israel plunged back into election politics yesterday, as Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his party ministers to resign their Cabinet posts. The prime minister, meanwhile, remained unconscious after a massive stroke last week.

Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where Ariel Sharon, 77, has been unconscious and in critical condition since he suffered a brain hemorrhage Jan. 4, said the latest scan had shown slight progress: Traces of bleeding in his brain had been absorbed, and there was no need for further draining of fluid.

Three Cabinet members from the right-wing Likud party led by Netanyahu left the ruling coalition, going ahead with a move that had been put on hold after Sharon's brain hemorrhage last week. The fourth is scheduled to resign his post today.

The resignations will have no effect on the viability of Israel's government, which is headed by the interim prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

But the measures added to a sense that the country was getting back to politics as usual before the general election, now scheduled for March.

A week into a health crisis that has cast a pall over Middle East peace prospects, doctors said Sharon was displaying basic motor reflexes as his anesthetic was gradually reduced.

Medical sources said doctors were trying to decide when to wean Sharon from all sedation -- to rouse him from an induced coma and assess the extent of the damage to his brain.

Signaling Washington's intent to keep Middle East diplomacy from sliding into limbo, President Bush telephoned Olmert to express his solidarity.

''Bush said he intends to continue to work towards realizing the joint vision he shared with Sharon for promoting the peace process," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

US and Israeli officials said Olmert may go to the White House as early as next month.

Even when Sharon is off the medication, it could be days before doctors can assess the damage. With his hospital stay expected to last months, Sharon is given little chance of returning to public life.

As Israelis kept vigil for the former army general, political wrangling ahead of the election, which Sharon had been widely favored to win, resumed after a weeklong moratorium.

After first resisting, Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and Health Minister Danny Naveh agreed to Netanyahu's demand that they leave the Cabinet to distance the Likud party from policies set by Sharon's centrist Kadima party.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, the only Likud Cabinet member who held back, will resign today, a spokeswoman said.

This means he will not take part in a Cabinet meeting on Sunday that may decide the controversial question of whether to allow voting in East Jerusalem in Palestinian elections this month.

Israeli media said Olmert had decided to appoint Justice Minister Tzipi Livni as foreign minister to replace Shalom.

Olmert, Sharon's likely successor as head of Kadima, can appoint his allies to the vacant posts. Kadima has been boosted by polls suggesting it would crush Likud and center-left Labor in the national ballot even without Sharon at the helm.

Sharon broke away from Likud in November in the face of a rebellion by Netanyahu and other party hard-liners over Israel's pullout from Gaza in September.

Much of Sharon's popularity stems from a belief that he could take further diplomatic action with the Palestinians that no one else could get away with, given his background as a hawk.

He has hinted at giving up some occupied land in the West Bank, but vowed to hold on to major settlement blocs there.

Israelis have been buoyed by signs that his condition is improving. Doctors give him a high probability of survival, but they caution against too much optimism on his recovery.