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Olmert Defies Calls to Resign | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Palestinian protesters scuffle with Israeli border police officers near Ramallah (R)


Palestinian protesters scuffle with Israeli border police officers near Ramallah (R)

Palestinian protesters scuffle with Israeli border police officers near Ramallah (R)

JERUSALEM, (AP) -Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced an onslaught of calls for his resignation and the first cracks in his coalition Tuesday following a government probe’s harsh criticism of his handling of last summer’s Lebanon war.

Olmert defiantly declared after the report’s release Monday that he would not quit, despite the inquiry’s conclusion that he showed flawed judgment in ordering and directing the conflict.

But newspaper editorials and commentators demanded that he step down, saying he had lost the confidence of the Israeli people. The report “contains not even one lenient word to which the prime minister could cling in order to prolong his term,” the Haaretz newspaper said in an editorial.

Ahead of Monday’s report, the embattled Israeli leader had been working hard in recent weeks to shore up support within his coalition government.

In a sign of trouble, a junior Labor Party minister, Eitan Cabel, announced through a spokesman that he intended to resign later in the day to protest the government’s failures in the war.

It was not clear whether other members of Olmert’s broad governing coalition would follow suit. Olmert’s Kadima Party and Labor are the two biggest partners in the coalition.

Olmert was only months on the job when the war broke out after Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon killed three soldiers and captured two others in a July 12 cross-border raid.

Israel set out to retrieve the soldiers and crush Hezbollah, which had built up an arsenal of thousands of rockets following Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.

Neither objective was obtained during 34 days of fighting, and Israel was traumatized by nearly 4,000 rockets that bombarded northern communities.

Between 1,035 and 1,191 Lebanese civilians and combatants were killed in the fighting, as were 119 Israeli soldiers and 39 civilians, according to official figures from the two sides.

A U.N.-brokered cease-fire pushed Hezbollah away from Israel’s border. But Israeli intelligence officials have warned the group is rearming with the help of its Iranian and Syrian backers.

The inconclusive outcome of the war cracked apart the solid support that Olmert enjoyed when Israel went into battle. The criticism was stoked by reports from returning troops of confused orders, and shortages in equipment as basic as water and bullets.

Olmert’s support evaporated after the war, causing him to shelve an ambitious plan to pull out of much of the West Bank. But backed by a coalition with a solid majority in parliament, Olmert on Monday rebuffed new demands to step down.

“It would not be correct to resign, and I have no intention of resigning,” he said in a brief televised statement from his office.

Instead, he planned to hold a special Cabinet meeting Wednesday to begin examining the report’s findings.

“There’s no question” he must go, said Zeev Crombie, a 50-year-old resident of the northern city of Safed, which was hit by many Hezbollah rockets during the war. “In the eyes of the Arabs, we were defeated. And that gives them a lot of courage to continue to try to wipe us out.”

The prime minister’s best hope for remaining in office appeared to rest in his coalition partners’ fear of new elections, which polls predict would bring opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu of the hawkish Likud Party to power.

Olmert confidants have said only mass protests — like one opponents on the left and right hope to rally in Tel Aviv on Thursday — could force him to quit. He also might face an uprising within Kadima that might force him to turn over power to another party member, most likely his popular Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

“The only way to get Olmert out of office now is for his Kadima Party to show him the door or for the public to mount such public protests that Kadima will be forced to show him the door,” said Reuven Hazan, a political science professor at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Nearly nine months after the war ended, it’s not clear how roiled the public will be by a report that restates widespread criticisms of the wartime leadership’s performance without releasing any stunning findings. What did surprise was the harsh language.

“The prime minister made up his mind hastily, despite the fact that no detailed military plan was submitted to him and without asking for one,” the commission found. “All of these add up to a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence.”

The inquiry analyzed the first six days of the war, as well as the six years beginning with the 2000 pullout from Lebanon and Hezbollah’s subsequent buildup along Israel’s northern border. A full report on the entire war is scheduled for release this summer.

The report also criticized Defense Minister Amir Peretz, a former union chief, for his inexperience and said wartime military chief Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz “acted impulsively,” misrepresented the army’s readiness and suppressed dissenting opinions.

“If any one of them had acted better … the outcome of the campaign would have been different and better,” said Eliyahu Winograd, the retired judge who led the investigation.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah welcomed news of the critical findings.

The report “confirmed the inability of the Israeli political and military leadership to … confront Hezbollah,” said Sheik Hassan Ezzeddine, Hezbollah’s most senior political officer in southern Lebanon.

Even if Olmert remains in office, his weak stature likely will limit his ability to push forward with peace efforts with the Palestinians.

“We hope that this report and the findings of this report will not further complicate and hinder attempts to revive the peace process,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (AFP)

An Israeli student holds up a poster showing Israeli Prime Minister during a demonstration (AP)

An Israeli student holds up a poster showing Israeli Prime Minister during a demonstration (AP)