Sharon gravely ill

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a dominant figure for decades in shaping the Middle East, was rushed to hospital yesterday for surgery after suffering a massive brain haemorrhage.

"It looks very bad. I don't know if he will recover," said a senior political source after Mr Sharon, 77, was taken in an ambulance from his ranch in southern Israel to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.

Mr Sharon's death or incapacitation would cause political upheaval in Israel ahead of a March 28 general election he had been expected to win on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians. He has been Prime minister since 2001.

"He has significant, massive cerebral bleeding... the aim of the operation is to drain it," Hadassah hospital director Shmuel Shapira said. "We have the largest team that Israeli medicine can offer, the most senior people."

Mr Sharon's prime ministerial powers were transferred temporarily to his deputy, Ehud Olmert, cabinet secretary Yisrael Maimon told reporters outside the hospital.

Mr Sharon had been due to undergo an operation today at Hadassah hospital to repair a tiny hole in his heart thought to have contributed to his stroke last month.

The hefty ex-general popularly known as "The Bulldozer" spent several days in hospital but ploughed back into a punishing public schedule in recent weeks.

Opinion polls have shown Mr Sharon was on course to win the March election as leader of the new centrist Kadima faction he founded after quitting the right-wing Likud party in the face of a party rebellion over the Gaza pull-out.