Word: olmert
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Just days after launching Israel's violent offensive in Lebanon, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took time off to share a leisurely weekend lunch with a few old friends. With helicopters buzzing overhead on their way to and from the front, the group sat on the patio of an elegant private home, eating tomato soup, egg noodles and steak. What struck one participant was Olmert's inner calm, the confidence he has exuded as he leads Israel through its biggest crisis in years. "You could see the intensity in his body language," says the friend. "But he was not nervous...
...clear. Israel's untested Prime Minister was dealt a formidable challenge two weeks ago when fighters for Hizballah, the Lebanese Islamist group, crossed the border and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Olmert responded ferociously, authorizing air attacks and limited ground incursions aimed not just at punishing Hizballah but also at reshaping Israel's neighborhood. It's an enormous gamble and one that could well determine Olmert's political fate and the peace prospects of the area. If he succeeds, by neutralizing Hizballah and convincing Israel's enemies, at least for a while, that it's not worth picking a fight, Israel...
With a few bland words -- "this Sunday I will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where I will meet with Prime Minister Olmert and his leadership and with President Abbas and his team"--U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week linked her office not just to one summer's crisis but also to the careers and reputations of those who preceded her in high office...
...adopted by the U.S. and other powers in 2003; and it was accepted, finally, by Israel's old warrior Ariel Sharon, although he ultimately lost faith in negotiations and adopted a policy of unilateral "disengagement" from the Palestinians. As Sharon's heir and successor, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also knows that one day a Palestinian state will come. The belief is nearly universal. "We know we can't wind this up with guns and tanks," Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told TIME. "The final solution has to be done diplomatically...
...Israel left Gaza last year. "The withdrawal," says Ross, "should not have taken place unless the Palestinians were going to create the security force to ensure security on their side, so that there weren't attacks out of Gaza into Israel." Given all that has happened, says Ross, Olmert will be able to pull out of the West Bank only if one of two conditions are met: "Either his withdrawal is geared only to [Israeli] settlers and not soldiers ... or the Palestinians are able to put together a credible security force...