Contenders to lead Israel

From left to right:

Benjamin Netanyahu: Throwing his support behind Israel's Gaza offensive, the head of the right-wing Likud party has maintained a narrow lead in opinion polls, which forecast he will become prime minister again, after having held the post from 1996 to 1999. Educated in the United States, Netanyahu, now 59, became a decorated commando. As finance minister under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from 2003, Netanyahu pursued economic reforms that are credited by many for economic growth. He wants to shift the focus of land-for-peace talks with Palestinians to economic issues.

Tzipi Livni: Foreign minister and leader of the ruling, centrist Kadima party, Livni is a close second in polls. The most powerful woman in Israel since Prime Minister Golda Meir in the 1970s, Livni has threatened more tough military action in the Gaza Strip if a fragile ceasefire that went into effect on Jan 18 fails to hold. A former corporate lawyer, Livni, 50, is Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians and an ex-intelligent agent. Her failure to form a new coalition government after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Kadima resigned in September in a corruption scandal forced the coming election.