Last update - 00:00 30/10/2007
Polls after PM cancer revelation: Highest approval since 2006 war
By Barak Ravid, Aluf Benn and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
Polls published Tuesday after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert disclosed he has prostate cancer put his approval ratings at their highest point since last summer's war in Lebanon.
Olmert, 62, will undergo an operation for the removal of his prostate gland after the Annapolis peace summit, aides to the prime minister said Monday. Olmert announced the impending surgery to the nation at a hastily convened news conference in Jerusalem Monday, when he revealed that a cancerous growth had been found on his prostate.
The prime minister stressed that it is not life threatening, and that he intends to continue working as usual until the operation, and as soon as he recovers following the surgery.
A Dahaf Research Institute survey taken immediately after Olmert's announcement showed 41 percent of Israelis said Olmert was doing a good job, a 6 percentage point increase from the previous month. Pollsters surveyed 500 people, and the margin of error was 4.3 percentage
points.
Another poll by the TNS Teleseker polling company showed 11 percent of the respondents thought Olmert was the most suitable candidate to serve as prime minister, up from 4.8 percent in June.
The leading candidate was Benjamin Netanyahu, who mustered support
from 31 percent of those questioned. The survey of 412 people had a margin of error of 4.8 percentage points.
Olmert's public standing had been battered by dissatisfaction with his handling of Israel's war against Hezbollah guerrillas and multiple corruption suspicions against him. But his popularity spiked after a recent Israeli airstrike against Syria, and that upward direction continued after Olmert announced a tiny cancerous tumor was found in his prostate gland and he would have to undergo surgery to remove it.
PM to Rice: I'll work at full pace
Olmert's bureau issued a statement Monday that the operation will be carried out after the summit, because it was necessary to wait several weeks after the biopsy, which was conducted 10 days ago. Following the operation, Olmert will not be able to travel abroad for three to four weeks, "and we do not intend to delay the meeting at Annapolis for this," a source in his bureau said.
In a telephone conversation with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - who called to ask about his health Monday - Olmert said that "I will continue working at full pace... and I will attend the international meeting in Annapolis before the operation."
Rice called Olmert to wish him a speedy recovery, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. He said he did not expect Olmert's illness to affect Rice's plans to visit Israel and Palestinian territories beginning this weekend.
Olmert's opposite number for the conference, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, himself battled prostate cancer, undergoing surgery in Washington in 2001.
Following his visit to Paris and London, Olmert was told by his physicians last Wednesday that they had discovered a cancerous growth.
According to Shlomo Segev, one of the doctors, Olmert did not show any signs of anxiety when he was informed about the illness, and "was very quiet."
Olmert briefed a number of senior figures in the political leadership on Sunday and Monday about the illness, including President Shimon Peres, Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and several other ministers.
At the news conference, the prime minister said that "according to medical opinion, there will be no need for radiation or chemotherapy treatment." He also noted that following the operation, "I will be fit to fulfill my duties fully, prior to the treatment and also several hours after it."
The doctors said that the operation, which will last two hours, can be carried out under local or full anesthesia. If the latter is selected, then the prime minister will have to declare "temporary incapacity" and pass on his authority, temporarily, to Livni.
Senior officials at the Prime Minister's Bureau said that in that case, the necessary arrangements will be made with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.
Olmert is likely to remain hospitalized for three days after the operation, which will probably be carried out at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, under Professor Ramon.
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