Roundup: Israeli PM's arrangement on war inquiry draws criticism

A limited probe that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert authorized to investigate the conduct of the recent Israel-Hezbollah conflict has drawn criticism both from politicians and civilians after it was announced on Monday night.

Senior officials in the Labor Party, the key partner in Olmert's coalition government, have openly expressed opposition to the prime minister's decision of establishing separate commissions rather than a full state inquiry into the conduct of the 34-day- long conflict.

Two Labor cabinet ministers, Culture and Sports Minister Ophir Pines-Paz and Minister in charge of the Israel Broadcasting Authority Eitan Cabel, said late Monday that they would vote against the Olmert's decision which still needs to be approved on Wednesday's cabinet meeting.

On Monday night, Olmert appointed two commissions in charge of investigating the political and military handling of the war respectively, rather than a widely-called full state inquiry which has the authority to dismiss top officials.

According to his Monday night announcement, Olmert also assigned the State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss the task of investigating the war-time arrangement of Israel's home front which suffered heavy damage during the conflict.

But it seems that the state comptroller would not act according to Olmert's arrangement.

Lindenstrauss clarified on Tuesday that according to law, only the state comptroller's office is authorized to decide what it investigates, and it was critical the government uphold the comptroller's independence.

The job of assessing the war in the country's north was already in the state comptroller's jurisdiction, Lindenstrauss added.

Besides the criticism from political echelon, oppositions to Olmert's decision can also be heard from Israeli civilians.

Two days ago, a group of Israeli reserve soldiers who took part in the combat in Lebanon launched their post-war protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling for Olmert's resignation.

One of the reserve soldiers taking part in the march, Yigal Ben Ami from Tel Aviv, told local daily Yedioth Ahronoth that he feels the prime minister is "laughing in his face".

Such feeling grew stronger Monday after Olmert announced he will only be setting up two investigation panels to examine the war instead of calling for a full state inquiry, he added.

Elsewhere, other protesters headed by a member of the Movement for Quality Government have also initiated their own march heading for Jerusalem.

Olmert has been under heavy pressure to establish a state inquiry commission since the UN Security Council resolution 1701 took effect and brought the 34-day-long Israel-Hezbollah conflict to an end.

A poll published by Yedioth Ahronoth recently shows that over 60 percent of the Israelis are unsatisfied by Olmert's performance during the conflict.

They believe Israel's military operation didn't achieve the goal it was expected to, and the prime minister should resign.

During his Monday night speech, Olmert recognized the failure of the war with Hezbollah for the first time, saying "we did not always achieve the aims we hoped for. There were problems and failures."

However, Olmert reiterated his rejection to calls for a state probing commission, the most sweeping type of public inquiry, because "it would paralyze the leadership at a time when Israel needed to be prepare for a threat from Iran".

Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah broke out fighting on July 12 after two Israeli soldiers were captured and eight others killed by the Lebanese Shiite group in cross-border attacks.

The 34-day-long conflict caused over 1,000 Lebanese and 157 Israelis killed in addition to huge property damages and economic losses of both sides.

It came to a cease-fire on Aug. 14 thanks to the UN Resolution 1701.

Source: Xinhua