The director of the Jerusalem hospital where the 77-year-old Sharon is being treated said medics would be able to evaluate the damage he has sustained as he is roused on Monday from the coma, drug-induced to help his body to rest.
"As of tomorrow morning, we will gradually reduce the depth of the anaesthesia, then we will be able to evaluate the neurological function of the prime minister's brain," Shlomo Mor Yosef told reporters.
The latest brain scan had shown signs of an improvement while all his other vital signs such as blood pressure and pulse were within normal parameters. Neither was there any sign of fever.
"To sum up, the situation is still critical but stable," he said.
The decision to rouse the prime minister was made by the team of medics who have been treating him since Wednesday night when he suffered his second stroke in less than three weeks.
Doctors now appear more confident that they will be able to save his life but are warning that his condition will not allow him to absorb the stresses of leading the Jewish state.
"He will not continue to be prime minister, but maybe he will be able to understand and to speak," Jose Cohen, one of his surgeons, was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Another Hadassah doctor told AFP on condition of anonymity it was "more than likely that Ariel Sharon will be unable to continue as prime minister."
"We are in no doubt that we will be able to revive him ... but he will probably not be able to resume his duties," he added.
The doctor said the prime minister risked being paralysed or suffering from other difficulties.
Israelis and world leaders have already braced themselves for the end of the Sharon era, fearing his demise would spark new turmoil in a region struggling to find the path to peace after decades of conflict.
Despite their great rivalry, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN on Sunday that history would judge Sharon "as the great leader that he is".
Sharon's demise has revived traumatic memories of the death a decade ago of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, whose assassination by a Jewish extremist triggered a wave of violence and a collapse of the peace process.
Just days ago, Sharon, who was elected premier in February 2001, and his new Kadima party were on track to romp to victory in a general election fixed for March 28 but all previous calculations are now being revised.
As Sharon lay in intensive care in the Hadassah hospital, his stand-in Ehud Olmert chaired his first regular cabinet meeting without the prime minister, pledging to ensure that the government continued to function.
Olmert, while respected, has none of the clout nor the power base that enabled Sharon to bulldoze his way through opposition to last year's pullout from the Gaza Strip. Yet he stressed that it would be business as usual.
"If I could speak with him this morning ... he would say: 'I appreciate the fact that you are all concerned about my health. Thank you, but get to work. You must continue running affairs of state," Olmert told the cabinet.
Israel's elder statesman Shimon Peres said that he would endorse Olmert to head the Kadima party in the March election.
Asked on CNN whether Olmert would lead the centrist party's list, Peres said: "The answer is clearly yes, positively yes."
Before Israel goes to the polls, the Palestinians are also scheduled to elect their own new government in January 25 parliamentary polls, amid political and security chaos in the territories.
Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei again extended his wishes for the "prompt recovery" of Sharon.
"We hope that any repercussions of his illness on the peace process will be positive and able to begin a new era of partnership and negotiations between the two sides so that our people can enjoy peace, security and prosperity."
While the Palestinian Authority has publicly expressed fears that his demise will lead to a dangerous vacuum, its official Al Hayat Al Jadida newspaper ridiculed talk that Sharon had anything to do with the peace process.
In the first official reaction from arch-enemy Syria, state radio said the Israeli premier would be remembered for his "blood-thirsty" and "terrorist" policies against the Palestinians.
© 2005 Agence France-Presse
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.