BEIJING, Jan. 17 -- In Israel, Ehud Olmert has convened his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. He's expected to remain Israel's interim prime minister until a March 28th general election, barring a miraculous change in the condition of the comatose Ariel Sharon.

    In further consolidation of his potential power, Olmert is expected to be named chairman of the centrist Kadima Party. This is the party Sharon formed after quitting the rightist Likud last year to push for peace with the Palestinians.

    Opinion polls predict an easy win in the upcoming election for Kadima under the leadership of Olmert. Previously, he served as deputy prime minister under Sharon, as well as finance minister.

    Chaired by Olmert, Sunday's cabinet meeting approved the participation of East Jerusalem residents in the January 25th Palestinian parliamentary elections.

    The cabinet passed the proposal submitted by Olmert to allow Palestinians in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, to vote in the legislative elections.

    This approval paved the way for holding elections as scheduled. The Palestinians had threatened to postpone the elections unless East Jerusalem was included in the polls.

    This is the second Palestinian parliamentary election, after the

    first one in 1996, in which East Jerusalem residents will participate.

    However, Olmert said Israel would NOT allow Hamas, a radical militant group sworn to Israel's destruction, participate in the elections.

    Meanwhile, doctors at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital have successfully performed a tracheotomy on Ariel Sharon. The procedure will help the prime minister breathe, and wean him off a respirator. The 77-year-old Israeli leader is also expected to undergo a brain scan.

    (Source: cctv.com)