In early 2006, Israel’s then-prime minister, Ariel Sharon, suffered a devastating stroke that ended his political career but not, as it turns out, his life. All but forgotten, Sharon is nevertheless alive, thanks to a life support system that costs the family and state 300,000 euro per year.

JERUSALEM — Consider the following scene: on Sept. 4, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the marriage ceremony of the daughter of Eli Yishai, the interior minister and chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. While giving a short speech, Netanyahu refers to one of his predecessors, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“May his memory be blessed,” says Netanyahu. The audience is silent, looking both stunned and embarrassed. Netanyahu quickly catches his mistake and corrects himself: “May he live long…”

The gaffe was revealing. Most Israelis have forgotten Ariel Sharon, even though he is still alive. After suffering a stroke on Jan. 4, 2006, Sharon plunged into a deep coma. Since then he has been kept on life support at Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv. He is 83 years old. He has a single room that is not located in an intensive care unit. In five years and nine-and-a-half months, he has not given a single sign of waking up, but has he had no major complications either.

“He has a sturdy body, but his case is exceptional,” says a doctor. “Many patients would have died of an infection by now. Not him; he’s still holding on. This situation may continue for a long time, but he has absolutely no chance of regaining conscience.”

The fate of Ariel Sharon has been kept silent for years – word does not get past any doctors, politicians or members of his family. In September 2009, the spokesman for Sheba hospital had only this to say to Le Monde: “The only information I can provide you is that his condition is stable and unchanged. For more information, please contact the members of his family.”

“If this were anyone else,” says the discreet but well-placed doctor, “they would already have let him die. Sharon is kept alive because it is the will of his family, but [the situation] is… pathetic.”

What may look like aggressive therapy is actually not dictated by religious reasons: Ariel Sharon, like his parents and his sons, Gilad and Omri, is not at all religious. “His family is very attached to him. One might think that it’s irrational, but there it is,” says the physician.

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• Why is Ariel Sharon still alive? He’s been in a coma since 2006….. with little or no chance of waking back up…?
• Why is he being kept around? What is his significance to Israel?

Haya maswali hapo juu yanaweza yasiwe muhimu wa watanzania sababu ni mambo ya waisrel hayatuhus lakini tuna la kujifunza na kujiuliza. So turudi nyumbani hapa Tanzania .

Je kwa viongozi wetu wanaostahiki kutibiwa wanatibiwa na pesa za walipa kodi mpaka kifo kama Rasi, PM, etc iitokea hali hii ya airel sharon

• Ni nani wa kuamua. Mfano kama familia ya Nyerere ingegoma kuondolewa kwa mashine?
• Na kama serikali ndio Muamuzi ni vigezo gani vinatumika katika hali kama hii…….?

BUSARA ya utu ndio inamuweka hai gwiji huyu wa kihafidhina au ni SIASA