Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a surprise press conference on Monday where he announced that doctors had diagnosed him with mild prostate cancer.

Olmert said he will undergo a surgical procedure in the coming months that is expected to completely remove the current growth and that will leave him with a 95 percent chance of a full recovery. Olmert's doctors said there was almost no chance that he would require chemotherapy or other radiation treatments.

The prime minister was adamant that the cancer and the planned surgical treatment will in no way inhibit his ability to govern the country and "carry out the mission which has been bestowed upon me."

Olmert is scheduled to attend a US-hosted Middle East peace summit in either November or December where he is expected to offer a sweeping Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria leading to the creation of an Arab Muslim state on those ancient biblical lands.