Sharon Leaves Hospital

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, today left the Jerusalem hospital where he had received treatment for a mild stroke and said he planned to return to work "quickly".

Mr Sharon's was rushed to the hospital on Sunday after aides noticed his speech had become confused. Doctors say they expect him to make a full recovery.

"Now I need to quickly return to work and move forward," he said outside the hospital. "I don't believe it will affect my ability to function."

The 77-year-old, faces a general election in March in which, it emerged last night, he will face his one-time ally, former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The rightwing Likud party, which Mr Sharon left last month to form a new centrist grouping, elected Mr Netanyahu as its new leader last night.

Mr Netanyahu's accession completed the realignment of Israeli politics that began in November when Amir Peretz beat Shimon Peres in a vote for the Labour leadership and moved the party to the left.

Mr Peres later joined Mr Sharon in the Kadima party the prime minister formed after clashing with his more rightwing colleagues in Likud over his decision to evacuate Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and West Bank last summer.

Mr Netanyahu was among those who opposed the Gaza pullout and he resigned as finance minister as a protest against the plan.

Mr Sharon today moved quickly to allay any public doubts about his ability to govern.

Smiling and joking, but looking slightly drawn, he said to reporters "It appears that you have missed me."

The former general's hospitalisation has moved his health to centre stage ahead of the election.

Further health problems could undermine his poll lead and harm his chance of re-election.

Mr Sharon will be 78 in February and is very overweight. According to Ben Caspit, a columnist in the daily newspaper Maariv, at a small party on Saturday the prime minister ate kebab, steak in chimichurri sauce, lamb ribs, salads (such as hummus), chocolate cake and other cakes. It was "a typical Sharon menu", Caspit wrote.