I think Chivas is probably mostly right, except for the Jordan part. I dont see Israel invading Jordan, the backlash even inside Israel would be enormous, though you never know and I can think of scenarios where it could happen, but I think its fairly unlikely for the time being.

The timing of Sharon's stroke was rather interesting, and even though he was old, and strokes do happen to old people, the fact that he is old doesnt rule anything else out IMO. He had made a LOT of people VERY angry in Israel, not to mention the money issues discussed. There are definatly people in Israel with the expertise and motivations to pull that kind of thing off... whether it really happened is probably just one of those things we will never know for sure.

But his supposed idealogical successor's actions in Olmert, do lend some credibility to the idea. Especially since ant open move against Sharon would have created immense backlash in Israel against the right-wing elements had he gone the way of Rabin, Sharon was to strong and respected a leader, even among most hard-liners, even though he was making peace it would have seemed to many like killing one of their own.

Thus, a quiet non-voilent way of dealing with him would have been 100% necesarry or risked turning him into a martyr for peace.