FORMER ISRAELI prime minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for almost five years, may return home within days, according to a family friend and Israeli media reports.
Mr Sharon (82), the political and military hero of the Israeli right, has been in a hospital bed since January 2006, after suffering a massive stroke.
He is currently in a vegetative state in the respiratory rehabilitation unit in Sheba medical centre, near Tel Aviv.
The former hawkish Likud leader – who went on to form the centrist Kadima party – will be moved to Sycamore Ranch, his vast farm in the western Negev, not far from the Gaza strip.
The ranch, where his wife is buried, was known as the beloved retreat of the man widely despised in the Arab world for his role in the massacres at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps outside Beirut in 1982.
Raanan Gissin, a former Sharon adviser and family friend, confirmed the former premier “will be moved in the next few days, but the exact date cannot be disclosed for security reasons”. Mr Gissin said “the family has been looking forward to the move for a long time”.
The family and hospital officials have declined to comment on Mr Sharon’s exact condition. Mr Gissin said the former prime minister was breathing independently and not attached to a respirator. However, he added that Mr Sharon occasionally needed an oxygen mask.
The Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronotsaid the police had received notice of the expected transfer. Omri Sharon, one of the former prime minster's two sons, declined to confirm the press reports. A parliamentary committee this week approved 1.6 million Israeli shekels (€300,000) in annual funding for Mr Sharon's treatment. – (Guardian service)