Olmert took over as premier after Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke in January 2006. Olmert was a relatively obscure politician who had been named vice premier as a move of political expediency when it appeared that Sharon would serve indefinitely.

Instead, Olmert, known as a backslapping political operator with charm and fluent English, suddenly became prime minister.

His first initiative was to go where even the popular Sharon never dared -- following up Sharon's unilateral 2005 withdrawal from Gaza with a plan for a similar pullback in the West Bank.

But events soon overtook him. Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon staged a cross-border raid, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two. Olmert hastily ordered his military into battle, pledging to smash Hezbollah and bring back the soldiers, but accomplishing neither goal.

Instead, Hezbollah rained nearly 4,000 rockets on Israel, and Israeli forces ran an operation, later roundly criticized, that depended on airstrikes and bombing and only later on sweeps by ground forces.

The war ended with a UN Security Council resolution that allowed both sides, equally battered, to declare victory, but an Israeli commission of inquiry excoriated Olmert and his team for the handling of the war.

Olmert's proposed West Bank pullback dropped off the table as his popularity plunged.

Like Sharon, Olmert underwent a political transformation from hawk to moderate, from backing Israeli control of all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with constant settlement expansion to helping Sharon lead Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.

Olmert, 62, gained governing experience in a decade as mayor of Jerusalem, balancing Jewish and Palestinian interests and wrestling with constant budget shortfalls by raising money abroad.

Bitterly summing up during his 10-minute address Wednesday, Olmert said, "Did I make mistakes over my political career? Without a doubt, yes, and I regret them and I am sorry. But is the real picture that which is presented to the public? Absolutely not."

(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies July 31, 2008)