The hospital began to reduce Sharon's sedation Monday morning,after which the prime minister began breathing on his own,although he was still hooked up to a respirator.

Hadassah Director Shlomo Mor-Yosef said on Monday that Sharon's blood pressure rose during the stimulation, which was a positive sign.

However, doctors cautioned that Sharon's condition remained critical, and it could be days before they could assess the extent of damage to his functioning from the massive stroke he suffered last week.

Medical consensus was that even if Sharon survived the massive stroke, he could hardly return to Israeli politics, which he helped shape after withdrawing troops and some 8,500 settlers from all Gaza in September and ending Israel's 38 years of occupation there.

Sharon's death or incapacitation will cast uncertainty over the prospects for his newly founded Kadima party in the March 28 elections, which he is poised to win as head of the centrist party.

His bowing out of politics will also halt peace momentum raised by Israel's land concession, which is key to the Palestinian demand for a viable and independent state.

Before his hospitalization, Sharon intended to concede more occupied land but vowed at the same time to hold on to larger settlement blocs in the West Bank.