Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel

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Olmert was the mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003.
Throughout his premiership, Olmert was accused of corruption.
On 24 May 2006 Olmert was invited to address a joint session of the US.
Their son Shaul Olmert married an Israeli artist and lives in New York.
Olmert said that his father had never forgotten his Chinese hometown after moving to what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, in 1933 at the age of 22.
Olmert was elected mayor of Jerusalem in 1993, resigned from the Knesset in 1998, and unsuccessfully challenged Ariel Sharon for the Likud party leadership in 1999.
Olmert supported Sharon's founding of the centrist Kadima party in 2005, and when Sharon suffered an incapacitating stroke in Jan, 2006, Olmert became acting prime minister.
Born near Binyamina in the British Mandate of Palestine, Ehud Olmert is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with degrees in psychology, philosophy and law.
Olmert was first elected to the Knesset in 1973 at the age of 28 and was re-elected seven consecutive times.
While Mayor of Jerusalem, Olmert was an invited speaker at an international conflict resolution conference held in Derry in Northern Ireland.
Olmert was elected as a member of the sixteenth Knesset in January 2003.
On 7 August 2005, Olmert was appointed acting Finance Minister, replacing Benjamin Netanyahu, who had resigned in protest against the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
When Sharon announced his leaving the Likud and the formation of a new party, Kadima, Olmert was one of the first to join him.
During the days following the stroke, Olmert met with Shimon Peres and other Sharon supporters to try to convince them to stay with Kadima, rather than return to Likud or, in Peres' case, Labour.
On 16 January 2006 Olmert was elected chairman of Kadima, and Kadima's candidate for Prime Minister in the upcoming election.
On 6 April Olmert was officially asked by President Moshe Katsav to form a government.
Olmert had an initial period of 28 days to form a governing coalition, with a possible two-week extension.
On 24 May 2006 Olmert was invited to address a joint session of the US Congress.
Olmert was the third Israeli Prime Minister to have been invited to speak at a joint session of Congress.
On 9 December 2006 Olmert stated that he could not rule out the possibility of a military attack against Iran, and called for the international community to step up action against the country.
If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished," Olmert said on the last day of the Annapolis Conference.
In May 2008, it became public that Olmert was the subject of another police investigation.
Olmert said that he took campaign contributions from the Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky when he was running for Mayor of Jerusalem, leadership of the Likud and candidacy in the Likud list for the Knesset, but resisted calls to resign, and stated: "I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that his country's disagreement with Britain over expanding settlements in the West Bank "should not stand in the way" of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Police are investigating whether Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert received money illegally while he was mayor of Jerusalem and the nation's minister of industry, trade and labor.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday international pressure on Iran has been effective and may need increasing -- despite a US.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Iran's controversial nuclear program is "a major issue for the entire world" and called for stronger sanctions against Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will attend a four-way summit Monday sponsored by Egypt and intended to boost moderate Palestinian leaders like President Mahmoud Abbas, a spokesman for Olmert said Thursday.
Israel is willing to transfer $100 million to Palestinians for humanitarian needs, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokeswoman said Saturday night after Olmert met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be one of the issues discussed when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meets with President Bush on Monday, according to a White House statement.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is promising to work toward a compromise with the Palestinians after his Kadima party led parliamentary elections, but he warned: "We will not wait forever.
Without negotiating with Palestinians, Israel plans to withdraw from the West Bank, but it will retain all major Jewish settlements and Jerusalem will remain intact, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday in an interview.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that the most important challenge facing the nation is "setting the permanent borders of the state of Israel to ensure a Jewish majority.
As Israeli diplomats departed for Russia on Tuesday to discuss deep concerns about Iran's nuclear facilities, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Jewish state cannot allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances.
Ehud Olmert was born in Nahalat Jabotinsky (today part of Binyamina) in 1945, the third of four sons.
In 1966, Olmert joined Shmuel Tamir’s Free Center party, which ran as a faction within the Likud.
In 1973, Olmert was elected to the 8th Knesset at age 28, making him the youngest MK at that time.
Olmert was reelected mayor in 1998.
Following the elections for the 16th Knesset, in January 2003, Olmert was appointed minister of trade and industry and deputy prime minister in the Sharon government.
During the so-called “Greek Island Affair”, Olmert was investigated on suspicions of accepting bribes from businessman David Appel.
Olmert was one of the biggest supporters of Sharon’s disengagement plan.
In August 2005, Olmert was appointed acting finance minister, in the wake of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s resignation.
A short time later, Olmert was appointed Kadima chairman and became the party’s first prime ministerial candidate.
Olmert is married to Aliza, a writer of novels and theater plays, as well as an artist.
Olmert Says Too Early for Cease-Fire in Gaza', 'Medical officials in Gaza say at least 870 Palestinians have been killed in the 16-day Israeli offensive, which Israel says is to stop Hamas militants from firing missiles into southern Israel.
Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.
Israeli PM Olmert says Gaza campaign in initial stages', 'TEL AVIV, December 30 (RIA Novosti) - Israel\'s military operation in the Gaza Strip is only at an early stage and there are no plans to stop it, the prime minister said on Tuesday during a meeting with the country\'s president.
Israeli PM Olmert says he used Bush to ‘shame’ Rice', '“He gave an order to the secretary of state and she did not vote in favor of it.
Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said a telephone call he made to US President George W.
Pouring on political bravado in a speech late on Monday, Olmert said he demanded to talk to', 'Taipei Times.
Israel close to achieving its aims in Gaza - Olmert', 'TEL AVIV, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - Israel is close to achieving its aims in the Gaza Strip, but will continue its military operations until its southern regions are safe from rocket attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday.
Ehud Olmert is what is known as a “circumcised” dick, meaning that he pretty much gets to be as big a dick as he likes, as long as the United States stays friends with Israel.
Born in Binyamina, Olmert is the son of Russian immigrants who, escaping persecution, originally fled to China.
Seven years later Olmert was first elected to the Knesset, which is a lot like the US.
Olmert was the first guy in the pool when in late 2005, Sharon announced he was leaving Likud to form Kadima, a new party largely devoted to beach paddleball.
After narrowly escaping a 2007 indictment on criminal charges relating to shady dealings he may have been was involved in while finance minister, in May 2008, Olmert found himself again the subject of police investigation, this time for bribery.
Culture, and Internal Affairs Environment Committees.
subsequently resigning from the Knesset in 1998.
running effectively in Sharon's absence.
Olmert had almost certainly heard it for years from his left-wing wife and children, while he combed a few strands of hair over his bare pate in the morning.
Olmert said that Israel's leaders would soon need to make a similar compromise.
By age 21, a law student fresh out of army service, Olmert had followed his father into right-wing politics.
Just this week, anonymous police sources said there were insufficient grounds to investigate allegations that for years, Olmert had received fountain pens worth thousands of dollars from businessmen interested in influencing him.
Right-wing gestures aside, Olmert was a terrible mayor.
At that hour, Olmert was in the VIP lounge, flying in or out of the country.
All we want is the right to vote,' " Olmert said in an interview with the country's largest-circulation newspaper.
In his previous incarnation as classic rightist, Olmert had spoken like a man reciting the rote catechisms learned in childhood.
They could agree to minor fixes in the pre-1967 borders but not to Israel annexation of swaths of land, as Olmert has sought till now.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is trapped by his unwillingness to acknowledge that Israel must leave the occupied territories completely.
Ehud Olmert has begun to fascinate me.
Had fate not put me in a country of which Olmert is prime minister at a moment that might be seized by someone else, an actual leader, to make peace, my interest in him would be purely as a literary figure, a character.
Speaking at the summit, Olmert said that the reality created in our region in 1967 will change significantly.
As I write, there is no indication that Olmert is rushing to do that.
Olmert has been investigated several times before, even if charged and tried only once.
In 1973, at age 28, Ehud Olmert was elected to the Knesset on the Likud ticket.
By then, though, Olmert had been visited by an Idea.
Olmert was a very slow student, but once he caught on, he was convinced.
Olmert knows this, he said so four years ago, and does not want to know he knows this.
So far in his long political career, Olmert has not been able to do this.
of Industry and Trade, and Deputy Prime Minister.
Ehud Olmert is set to resign as Prime Minister of Israel.
Olmert took office in 2006 after Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke.
Like his predecessor, Olmert has been an open supporter of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which has faced criticism from both left (Labor Party) and right (Likud Party.
Olmert is being investigated for corruption during his time as industry, trade and labor minister.
Olmert took over as acting prime minister when his mentor, Ariel Sharon, suffered a crippling stroke in January 2006.
Olmert took the reins of the Kadima Party founded by Mr.
Olmert Says He Made Rice Change VoteBy MARK LANDLERPrime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said a call he placed to President Bush resulted in the Condoleezza Rices abstention from a United Nations resolution on Gaza.
Yesterday's speech by Olmert was the sixth time that an Israeli head of government has been given the honor of appearing before a joint session of Congress in the last thirty years.
Olmert has said publicly he hopes and waits for Sharon to recover and return to the prime minister's office.
Olmert has always been considered as hostile to Palestinians, especially while he was mayor of Jerusalem.
Olmert is among a group of Israeli politicians who support a unilateral initiative -- a take-it-or-leave-it proposition to the Palestinians.
Olmert was born in Nahalat Jabotinsky, a part of today’s Binyamina.
Minister without Portfolio in charge of minorities’ affairs.
Olmert was approved by the Government as Interim Prime Minister.
In 1988 Olmert was appointed minister without portfolio and was responsible for relations with Israeli Arabs; in 1990 he became minister of health.
In 2003 Olmert was recalled to national politics by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who appointed him vice prime minister and minister of trade and industry.
Ehud Olmert is a political leader in the middle east.
Israel National News is echoing a report first seen in Al-Jazzera that that Olmert is likely to step down or suspend his.
In a speech late on Monday, Olmert said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, was left pretty shamed at the vote and had to abstain on a resolution she.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he persuaded Bush to reverse a vote on a Gaza cease-fire resolution.
Olmert is delaying a meeting with senior.
He gave an order to the secretary of state and she did not vote in favor of it.
X Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said a.
Olmert said he wanted to "get to Israel's permanent borders, whereby we will completely separate from the majority of the Palestinian population and preserve a large and stable Jewish majority in Israel.
Olmert is also committed to retaining the Jordan Valley, seeing "the Jordan River as a security border.
Olmert has concluded that Hamas' rejectionism has freed Israel from the constraints of Oslo and that the United States will support Israel acting unilaterally on final-status issues.
Olmert has not specified which settlements would be involved in the plan he calls "convergence," but would consolidate the population of the smaller settlements into the remaining large blocs.
On terrorism, Olmert has a zero-tolerance plan.
On a personal level, Olmert is married and the father of four.
Olmert has been a problem since the accident of his prime ministership in the winter of 2006.
Olmert was another part of the bad choice.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that a new emergency Palestinian government, due to be sworn in Sunday, would be a partner for peace in negotiations with Israel.
Ehud Olmert became Prime Minister in the April 2006 election after the Kadima party - which he leads - won the most seats.
The embattled Mr Olmert has received dismal poll ratings since then.
Mr Olmert has also been shadowed by corruption allegations dating from earlier in his career, which he denies.
Mr Olmert was widely seen as one of Mr Sharon's closest allies.
Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 until he joined the cabinet in 2003, Mr Olmert has adopted a slightly more dovish line in recent years, relative to senior figures in his former Likud party.
Mr Olmert is a long-standing rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he replaced as finance minister in August 2005 when the latter stood down in protest at the Gaza pull-out plan.
Mr Olmert was born in Binyamina in what was then Palestine 1945 and trained as a lawyer.
Ehud Olmert is the 12th Israeli to serve as Prime Minister and probably the best politician of them all.
Olmert was Sharon's consigliere on the decision to leave Gaza.
In the end, preserving Bush as an ally is a politician's job, and Olmert is well suited to it.
Dont Repeat false charges, Iran tells US.
after Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke and fell into a deep coma.
strongly backing the settler movement.
to a more centrist political position.
and law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
At least nine missiles are fired into Israel from Gaza, targeting Sderot, Netivot and other communities close to the border.
Israels prime minister, who has a few weeks left in office, says that to achieve lasting peace, the nation has to cede most of the West Bank and half of Jerusalem to Palestinians.
Olmert has resigned from the premiership because of a host of corruption investigations.
Olmert said the withdrawal would have to include parts of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war.
Olmert is expected to stay on as a caretaker prime minister until a new coalition is formed.
Elected in 2006, Olmert was supposed to serve until 2010.
The confidant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Olmert has not publicly revealed his plans, is in close daily contact with Olmert.
A longtime member of the conservative Likud party, Olmert joined Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the founding of a new centrist party, Kadima, late in 2005.
Acting" was removed after Kadima won national elections in March of 2006 and Olmert was sworn in as PM on May 4th of that year.
Olmert was first elected to the Knesset in 1973, at the young age of 28.
Olmert had surgery and remained in office.
Olmert has degrees in psychology (1968) and law (1973) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is playing with strange fire and it will soon scorch all Israel.
Olmert is inviting disaster by enticing foreign troops to make their move into the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was left "embarrassed" after President George W Bush.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that he told President Bush not to vote in favor of the United Nations' last week resolution on Gaza.
Olmert has several times been accused of corruption, like with the Greek island affair from 1999.
January 16: Ehud Olmert is elected leader of Kadima, thereby becoming the party's prime minister candidate.
Ehud Olmert is asked to form a colation government.
Olmert has proven unable to make his party coalition government work effectively.
Previously, Olmert was the Vice Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, and Minister responsible for the Israel Lands Administration, as well as an ordinary member of the Knesset.
Olmert was born on September 30, 1945.
With the planned Middle East summit in Washington less than two months away, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is caught in an ideological battle between his party's doves and hawks.
Under pressure from a key coalition partner, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to pass legislation for a stronger and more stable government.
Disappointed by cease-fires so often in the past, but casting an eye to a better future, Israelis greeted this week's cease-fire announcement in the Gaza Strip with a mixture of skepticism, fear and hope.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is bringing a hawkish party into his coalition, guaranteeing him the support of 78 members of the 120-seat Knesset and possibly one of the most stable governments in Israeli history.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert boasted Monday that he successfully pressured President Bush last week to reverse course on US.
Israel will have to give up almost all of the West Bank areas it occupies and accept the division of Jerusalem in order to take advantage of a rapidly closing window of opportunity for peace with the Arabs, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview publishedMonday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has formallyresigned.
Olmert is a former mayor of Jerusalem (19932003), member of the Knesset, and cabinet-level official.
Ehud Olmert has been the major of Jerusalem since 1993, when he defeated the renowned Teddy Kollek.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip would continue for as long as necessary to achieve the goal.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that 250 Palestinian prisoners would be freed in a goodwill gesture, as Palestin.
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The spin saga that took place in the political establishment in recent weeks, aimed to at showing that Olmert is debating whether to run for the Kadima leadership or not, was an insult to intelligence.
Israeli troops were last night pushing towards Gaza's towns and cities amid heavy fighting as Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said Israel was nearing its goals in the conflict.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shamefaced after President George W Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.
against the elected Hamas-led government.
If Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is forced out of office over corruption charges, history will not be kind to him.
That's one of the arguments put forth by Israeli journalists Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff in "34 Days" (Palgrave Macmillan), a gripping account of the Israel-Lebanon conflict that erupted just seven months after Olmert took office.
A month after the start of the war, Olmert accepted a UN.
Olmert says development of E-1 will go ahead, despite the disapproval of the US.