Livni: Israel's prime minister-in-waiting

The 47-year-old lawyer, who defied a staunch nationalist background to become a founding member of the ruling Kadima party, is now the most important woman in Israel and arguably the second most powerful politician after Olmert.

A key supporter of last year's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, she was among the first ministers to join former premier Ariel Sharon in breaking with the right-wing Likud party, even though she was virtually born into the movement.

Having enjoyed a meteoric rise in the seven years she has been in parliament, the married mother-of-two from Tel Aviv is widely touted as a possible future prime minister following in the footsteps of Golda Meir.

Meir served as foreign minister from 1956 to 1969 and went on to become premier from 1969 to 1974, overseeing Israel's response to the Egyptian and Syrian assault that sparked the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Although fans even tipped Livni to replace Sharon after his massive stroke, the commercial lawyer quickly declared her support for Olmert and critics believe she needs to build a more solid personal power base.

Made acting foreign minister in January, Livni enjoyed early diplomatic success in persuading the international community to isolate Islamic militant group Hamas following its election to head a new Palestinian government.

In the weeks that followed, both the United States, but arguably more importantly the European Union, the biggest donor to the Palestinians and generally more critical towards Israeli policy, suspended direct aid.

The international community has wholeheartedly backed Israel in insisting that Hamas recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and abide by previous peace agreements, before condescending to deal with Hamas.

In the three and a half months she has been in the job, Livni has been warmly received in Cairo, London, Paris, Rome, Vienna -- which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union -- and Washington.

Then, last month, she became the first cabinet minister in Israel's history to explicitly differentiate between Palestinian attacks against military targets and attacks against civilians.

"Somebody who is fighting against Israeli soldiers is an enemy and we will fight back, but I believe that this is not under the definition of terrorism if the target is a soldier," she said in an interview on ABC television.

Yet neither is Livni a peacenik. Like Olmert, she believes Israel must unilaterally set its final borders, which should include Jerusalem and the main Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.

To that end, she champions Israel's controversial separation barrier being built across the territory, incorporating large chunks of Palestinian land.

Her father, Polish-born Eitan Livni, was director of operations for the Irgun, the hardline nationalist group that fought British rule through World War II and was one of the main factions to later form the Likud.

With her mother also an Irgun militant, Tzipi was brought up steeped in the rhetoric of a Greater Israel including all the Palestinian territories. But under Sharon's tutelage she swung round to his conviction that the only way to preserve Israel as a Jewish state was to relinquish at least some of the land occupied in 1967.

An MP since 1999, she was appointed to the cabinet in March 2001, becoming minister of regional cooperation. Since then she served separately as minister of agriculture, immigration and justice.

Before following her father into politics, she worked in a commercial law partnership after four years in the legal section of the Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence service, from 1980 to 1984.

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