Jerusalem ? Doctors reported progress Tuesday by Ariel Sharon, saying the Israeli leader moved his left hand and appeared to respond to his sons’ voices in new signs of recovery from a massive stroke.

But while doctors said Sharon was no longer in immediate danger, they cautioned it would be days before they could determine the full extent of the damage he suffered from a brain hemorrhage and whether he has lost his ability to think and reason.

“I think compared with recent days … there are significant changes in the prime minister’s condition. But we still have a long way to go, and we have to be patient,” said Dr. Yoram Weiss, one of Sharon’s anesthesiologists.

Sharon suffered a massive stroke Jan. 4 and underwent three surgeries to stop hemorrhaging on the right side of his brain. He has been kept in a medically induced coma to give him time to recover.

Israelis were stunned at the illness of their 77-year-old leader and have intensely followed updates on his condition. Some made pilgrimages to Hadassah Hospital, gathering outside to pray, hanging up posters of support and offering letters of well wishes, many written by children.

Israeli police said crime in the country had fallen 50 percent since Sharon’s stroke. “It’s hard to explain, but since the prime minister became ill there seems to have been a change in people’s behavior patterns, their way of thinking,” police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

On Monday, doctors began decreasing the sedatives that have kept Sharon in a coma, and he started breathing on his own and moved his right arm and leg slightly in response to stimulation. On Tuesday, he increased his movement on the right side and also moved his left arm in response to stimulation, said Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Hadassah Hospital.

Movement on Sharon’s left side could be significant because that part of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain, where Sharon’s stroke occurred.

Meanwhile, Sharon’s replacement confronted a big leadership test: whether to allow Arabs in East Jerusalem to vote in upcoming Palestinian elections.

Israel had threatened to bar them from voting in the Jan. 25 Palestinian elections because the militant group Hamas is fielding candidates, but Tuesday Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert removed the threat.

Palestinians in the disputed capital will be allowed to vote in post offices – a compromise that says technically they are sending absentee ballots to Palestinian-controlled areas. Olmert’s decision is still subject to a Cabinet vote Sunday.