A group of Israeli security experts have worked out a draft law designed to define the relationship between the government and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), local daily Ha'aretz reported Tuesday.
The bill, first of its kind in Israel, is also aimed to specify the division of power and responsibility between the two bodies, said the report, adding that the proposal will be disseminated among cabinet ministers and Knesset members in the near future.
The relationship-defining efforts by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) came after the Winograd Committee concluded in its report on the 2006 military conflict with Lebanon that the lack of such organizational clarity was a "structural weakness" which "critically" needed repair.
The INSS proposal touches upon a range of issues, such as declaring war, setting strategic goals and specifying the types of authorization the IDF requires for operations in an enemy territory, according to Ha'aretz.
Israel passed a Basic Law in 1976 that officially subjected the army to the government and the defense minister, which is believed by many to be too vague and general and to which the proposed law would serve as a complement, the report said.
The idea to draw up the bill and push for legislation was influenced by the government's conduct during the Second Lebanon War, Dr. Shmuel Even, a senior INSS researcher, was quoted as saying.
"A few months before the war, we had a very strong trio that included a prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff who were very professional and knowledgeable in security matters," Even said.
"Then, during the war we had a different trio who lacked elementary knowledge, and this requires regulation by law."
The main problems "lay in the executive branch's inspection of the army," he said, adding that "the executive branch in charge of the IDF must take more of an interest in what goes on inside the army and has to treat the chief-of-staff like a managing director."
Source:Xinhua
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