Sharon moved his right arm, says doc

‘‘This is the first sign of some sort of activity in his brain,’’ the doctor said. As Israelis kept anxious vigil for the 77-year-old leader many had seen as the best hope for resolving their conflict with the Palestinians.

Sharon’s medical team gradually began reducing his sedation to help him regain consciousness. The process is critical for determining the extent Sharon’s faculties have been impaired and his chances for survival, though outside experts say there is no guarantee he will awaken from anaesthesia. But only an hour after doctors began weaning Sharon off drugs that have kept him in an induced coma since he suffered the stroke on Wednesday, they reported he was taking his first breaths. ‘‘This is one stage, a first stage,’’Mor-Yosef said, adding that Sharon remained in critical condition. Sharon’s surgeons say there is a good chance he will live. But medical consensus is he has suffered too much damage to return to politics.

The loss of Sharon, an ex-general who raised peace hopes by pulling settlers and troops out of Gaza in September, would create a huge void in the Middle East peace process. Sharon had been kept under sedation to aid healing after a series of operations that stopped bleeding in the brain caused by the stroke.

As Sharon is weaned off the drugs, neurosurgeons will be looking for his response to voices and other stimuli, from the movement of fingers to the opening of eyes. ‘‘The best news would be if Sharon wakes up, (a doctor) tells him ‘squeeze my hand’, and he does,’’ Dr Azriel Perl, a senior Tel Aviv anaesthetist, told the Maariv newspaper’s NRG news website. However, if doctors determine Sharon is permanently incapacitated, they will pass on their finding to Israel’s Attorney General. The cabinet would then choose a prime minister from ministers of Sharon’s party.