Quotes from Ehud Olmert

I love my country more than anything else.

The situation of any leader in the Middle East is not easy.

There were certain people who were out to get me. I know who those people were. They exist, believe me. They know that I know. They spent millions of dollars in order to try to get rid of me. I'm happy they lost most of their money.

The history of the Zionist enterprise is well-known: surrounded and outnumbered by hostile neighbours, the nascent Israel was forced to defend itself against invasion and certain destruction.

Turkey is not an enemy of Israel. I have worked closely with the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In Israel, we are sorry for the loss of life of Turkish citizens in May 2010, when Israel confronted a provocative flotilla of ships bound for Gaza. I am sure that the proper way to express these sentiments to the Turkish government and the Turkish people can be found.

Have I made mistakes in my many years of political activity? Of course! I am sorry and regret them.

Look, miracles in the Middle East are a reality.

For me, Arik Sharon - I remember his courage and inspiration. I want to remember him the way he really was, not as an aging 80-year-old man living in bed helpless and unconscious.

A bloc of states is emerging that understands that they may have been wrong to think that Israel is the world's greatest problem.

Promoting tolerance and human dignity is one of mankind's unfinished challenges.

I'm not in the most comfortable position, but I think my government is very stable, perhaps more stable than any government in modern Israeli history.

When armed people from Hamas and armed people from Fatah are standing opposite each other, there is more likely to be a confrontation amongst them.

Nobody stands above the law.

Israel stands proudly at the forefront of international achievement. The world's leading corporations - Google, Intel and Motorola, to name but a few - maintain research and development facilities here, and our technology start-ups continue to be acquired by the likes of AOL, eBay and IBM.

From the end of 2006 until the end of 2008 I think I met with Abu Mazen more often than any Israeli leader has ever met any Arab leader. I met him more than 35 times. They were intense, serious negotiations.

As mayor of Jerusalem, I wanted the government to invest the necessary funds in order to unite the city in an effective manner with full rights for the Palestinians living in Jerusalem, so the world would say, 'Okay, it can work.'

The fundamental interest - long-range strategic interest - of the state of Israel is that we will have the international bodies and primarily the United Nations recognize the two-state solution, so that there will never be any doubt as to the right of Israel to have its own Jewish independent state.

Before I became prime minister, as mayor of Jerusalem, I became world-renowned because of my fight for the unity of Jerusalem.

I was not interested in being minister of defense or minister of foreign affairs.

I know I'm unpopular.

The newspapers are always reminding the public that I am an unpopular prime minister.

Throughout the second intifada, America provided unprecedented support for Israel's struggle against Palestinian terrorism and Israel's construction of the security barrier.

Many Palestinians have been living for decades in camps, disconnected from the environment in which they grew up, wallowing in poverty, in neglect, alienation, bitterness, and a deep, unrelenting sense of humiliation.