Acting Israeli leader has unequaled credential

JERUSALEM -- Ehud Olmert, Israel's acting prime minister, has a credential that his predecessors and his opponents in the country's upcoming election lack: He has 10 years of hands-on experience as mayor of Jerusalem.

While running the city from 1993 to 2003, Olmert dealt with such weighty issues as inequalities between Palestinians and Israelis, as well as the more day-to-day concerns that divide East and West Jerusalem, such as garbage pickup, voting facilities, construction permits, and sewer lines.

Still, Olmert is a civilian star, not a military one -- the youngest member ever elected to the Knesset. He is also one of the few leaders in the country's recent history without a military pedigree.

The 60-year-old technocrat's ascension to power after Ariel Sharon's massive stroke a week ago poses a fundamental question for Israelis: Is a country that was founded and almost continuously run by resistance and war heroes ready to embrace a lifetime politician at a crucial juncture in the Middle East peace process?

His supporters say Olmert's policy experience and intellect offset his lack of pivotal battlefield experience in Israel's wars.

''Olmert is a very practical and pragmatic person," said Shalom Goldstein, who served as Olmert's adviser for Arab affairs for most of Olmert's term while he was Jerusalem's mayor.

As mayor, Olmert abandoned some of the programs that his leftist predecessor had created to reach out to the city's Palestinian population -- which numbers in the hundreds of thousands -- and he cultivated civil, if at times strained, relations with East Jerusalem.

Still, he made getting resources to Arab sectors a priority, funding many schools and some infrastructure upgrades, although not enough in the eyes of his critics.

''He promised, he delivered," Goldstein said.

Palestinian leaders said they are wary of Olmert, but they expected him to be more moderate and accommodating than Sharon, as a result of years dealing directly with Palestinians in Jerusalem.

In style and background, Olmert might be seen as the opposite of Sharon.

Sharon is an earthy man from a rural farming community who made his mark as a decorated combat soldier before turning to politics.

Olmert comes from a monied Jerusalem family. He likes fine cigars, fancy meals, and classical music. He's married to an artist and socializes with people from a leftist milieu despite his long tenure in right-wing politics.

And while Sharon spent the first three decades of his adult life in uniform, Olmert always knew he wanted to be a politician.

At 28, he was elected to the Knesset, leaving while he served as mayor.

Olmert's supporters, and even many of his critics, give him high marks for efficiency as mayor, describing him as a good manager, an eloquent speaker, and a smart political tactician.

If his party wins the March 28 election, Olmert will lead Israel at a major turning point in the so-called road map for peace.

He also will without Sharon's reputation and gravitas and without the military background that has guided nearly every Israeli leader since the nation's founding in 1948.

''He will be among the first civilians to be prime minister, which to me is a welcome thing, because we should emphasize the civil society," said Yael Dayan, a Labor member of the Knesset and a fierce critic of Olmert. Dayan's father, Moshe Dayan, was a war hero and a longtime political leader.

But Yael Dayan also voiced criticism of Olmert's performance.

''He was a mediocre mayor," said Dayan, who served with him in the Knesset and who is herself the deputy mayor of the combined municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. ''I know him as an average parliamentarian, not a charismatic person in particular. I cannot remember a law or a bill that he was responsible for."

Last weekend, as Israelis confronted the severity of Sharon's stroke, Olmert ran his first Cabinet meeting as acting prime minister with candor.

Sitting beside an empty chair reserved for Sharon, Olmert faced the television cameras. If the comatose prime minister could speak, Olmert said, he would order his colleagues to work.

''He would say: 'I appreciate the fact that you are all concerned about my health. Thank you, but get to work,' " he said. ''We will pay attention, we will pray, and we will believe that we will hear good news. . . . In the meantime, we will continue to do what Arik would want -- running affairs as they should be," he added, referring to Sharon by his nickname.

Assuming Sharon is unable to return to office, the affairs Olmert has to manage make for a daunting list. In addition to running the government until the election, Olmert has to lead the campaign for Kadima, the centrist political party Sharon founded just weeks before his stroke.

Olmert will also have to deal with party heavyweights known for their prickly egos, such as former Labor prime minister Shimon Peres, defense minister and former Likud party member Shaul Mofaz, and a group of Sharon loyalists who followed him to Kadima but who do not necessarily have the same ties to Olmert.

Olmert will bring his formidable political résumé to the task, along with his own deep appetite for power.

In 1999, Olmert challenged Sharon for the Likud leadership, retreating to the mayor's office after a bruising defeat.

Only when Sharon invited Olmert to join his Cabinet in 2003 did Olmert cultivate a new image as a loyal confidant to Sharon.

Sharon, for all his aura of charisma, is widely considered to be a poor speaker. So it often fell to Olmert to explain the rationale behind the Gaza Strip pullout, a task he took to with gusto.

Many political allies of Olmert said that he came to believe that Israel must withdraw from Gaza and from large parts of the West Bank earlier than even Sharon and that he played a large role in convincing his political patron that disengagement was the right course.

According to Tommy Lapid, head of the secular Shinui Party and a political rival but close friend of Olmert, Olmert had a genuine shift on the Palestinian issue over the course of his four decades in politics. Like many of the original members of Likud, Olmert at first resisted the principle of a two-state solution and supported Jewish settlements in the territories captured by Israel during the 1967 war.

But Olmert's early years as mayor coincided with the optimistic aftermath of the Oslo Peace Accords. Later in his tenure, the second Intifadah unleashed a wave of suicide bombings across Israel, including Jerusalem.

Like many in the political establishment -- including Sharon -- Olmert underwent a public change of heart, embracing the two-state principle despite growing mistrust of Palestinians as negotiating partners.

The status of Jerusalem has been one of the sorest points of contention between Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides claim the city as a capital and want unfettered access to its holy sites.

Many who have dealt with Olmert as advisers, as political opponents, or from across the divide as advocates for Palestinians, said his practical roots as mayor have given him mastery of the issues and credibility with a wider spectrum of the city's residents.

As mayor, he cracked down on illegal construction, mostly by Palestinians, and presided over the expansion of Jewish settlements in Arab East Jerusalem.

Some Palestinian leaders said Olmert is more likely to open a dialogue with Palestinians than Sharon.

''Olmert has always been a practical person. He knows that even if he does not like the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem, there are still practical things he has to do," said Bernard Sabella, a Palestinian sociologist at Bethlehem University.