Word: likud
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...only a minority. While you reported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' regret that Olmert did not win more seats, most Israelis regret Abbas' failure to stop Hamas from winning the latest Palestinian elections. That Israel's center-left captured such a large number of seats and that the right-wing Likud Party has disintegrated--even on the heels of the Hamas victory--should be viewed as a hopeful development. What remains to be seen is whether a Palestinian leadership emerges that is capable of taking the next step forward to a lasting peace...
...Sharon’s term as Prime Minister of Israel, no one would have ever predicted that he would advocate an Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. When asked how his political beliefs as Prime Minister had changed so drastically from his far-right days as founder of the Likud Party, Sharon replied, “things look different from here than they do from there.” Maybe Hamas will also see things differently now that it heads the Palestinian Authority. If they do, they will have even more clout in building a lasting peace because they have...
...Israeli right, which long subscribed to the vision of creating "Eretz Ysrael," extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the banks of the Jordan River. Olmert's father served in the Knesset in the 1950s as a member of the Herut Party, a forerunner of the right-wing Likud. Ehud studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was elected to the Knesset in 1973 as the youngest Likud member. Olmert launched crusades against corruption in professional soccer and, later, against organized crime. Israelis credit Olmert's generation with bringing transparency to the clubby, Old World atmosphere of Israeli politics...
...clients. The law practice made him rich--"I don't hate the good life," Olmert says--but his ties to the business community landed him in the middle of numerous scandals, including a case stemming from the 1988 election campaign in which he was accused of conspiring with other Likud officials to skirt campaign-finance restrictions. Though he was acquitted in 1997, Olmert gained a reputation for cynicism. As Jerusalem mayor, he initiated improvements such as a light-rail system but ran up huge deficits and bequeathed the city a legacy of half-finished development projects. In 1996, he pushed...
...Sharon's prodding, Olmert agreed to run again for the Knesset. Though Olmert was only 34th on the Likud's list of candidates, a reflection of his weakness in the party, Sharon made him Deputy Prime Minister. In that role Olmert acted as Sharon's foil, floating trial balloons before Sharon signed on to them--the most notable being the plan to evacuate settlers from the Gaza Strip last year, an idea first proposed by Olmert in a newspaper interview in 2003. But despite Olmert's loyalty, friends say, he never felt accepted by the Israeli leader. Sharon excluded Olmert...