DOCTORS treating Ariel Sharon are due to reduce the level of his sedation today to try to bring him round from the medically induced coma he has been in since he suffered a massive stroke.

If they succeed in awakening the 77-year-old Israeli Prime Minister they will conduct a battery of tests at a Jerusalem hospital to assess the extent of his brain damage caused by bleeding and three operations that lasted 12 hours.

After another brain scan yesterday, doctors at Hadassah Hospital expressed slight optimism about his condition, though they said he was still critical but stable. José Cohen, one of his surgeons, said there was no likelihood that he would return to work as Prime Minister, as he had definitely suffered some brain damage.

With hopes growing that Mr Sharon could survive, Ehud Olmert, the acting Prime Minister, projected a business-as-usual image when he conducted the first weekly Cabinet since the former general was stricken on Wednesday night. The mood was sombre in the Cabinet room and Mr Sharon’s chair was left symbolically empty. But the ministers were buoyed by the signals that Mr Sharon might pull through.

After the Cabinet meeting Mr Olmert said: “If I could ask Sharon what he really wanted, he would tell us that he is grateful for our interest in his well-being, but he would also ask that we continue to work and run the country’s affairs.”

In further remarks Mr Olmert, who also holds the portfolio of Finance Minister, spoke during a two-hour news conference about the Israeli budget. “I will continue as Finance Minister and I am now acting as deputy Prime Minister. I hope this part of my job will be short . . . I, together with the rest of the Israeli people, wish his recovery.”

One of Mr Olmert’s key decisions will be whether to allow residents of East Jerusalem to vote in the Palestinian legislative elections scheduled later this month. Israel has said it may block voting because of the participation in the polls of Hamas militants.

Police barred Palestinian campaigners from East Jerusalem last week, but indicated last night that campaigning would now be allowed.

Mr Sharon’s collapse has thrown Israeli politics into turmoil because he had quit his ruling Likud party and formed Kadima to fight the general election, just 11 weeks away. However, Shimon Peres, 82, the former Prime Minister who quit Labour to endorse Kadima, threw his weight unequivocally behind Mr Olmert and scotched rumours that he might return to his old party.

“I’m not negotiating with Labour,” he said. “I came to join Ariel Sharon with the sole and main purpose of advancing the peace process, and that will guide my activities.” Mr Peres said that though Kadima without Mr Sharon’s leadership was diminished, it remained a viable party for the centre.

Mr Peres was asked if Mr Sharon had outlined the vision of Kadima to him. “I think I have a fair idea,” he said. “I don’t know precisely, but I know in general terms where Mr Sharon was aiming. First of all, we are out of Gaza; we shall not return there.

“Secondly, it won’t be Gaza first and Gaza last. There will be a continuation after Gaza in the West Bank.”

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