Israel Suspends Review of Lebanon War

08/22/2006

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel’s Defense Ministry has suspended a review of the military’s performance during the war against Hezbollah, awaiting a government decision on whether to order a broader inquiry, officials said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is under growing public pressure to approve an independent investigation, with the power to dismiss top officials. Some reserve soldiers and bereaved parents have already demanded that Olmert and other wartime leaders step down.

A senior Labor Party legislator and member of the ruling coalition said Tuesday such an investigation was inevitable."I think that in this war, there were many blunders, from the decision-making process at the highest levels of government, to the fighting itself, and all these things need to be investigated,” said legislator Danny Yatom.

The war, launched just hours after Hezbollah guerrillas killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two in a cross-border raid July 12, enjoyed broad public support at the outset, but lost favor after Olmert accepted a U.N.-brokered truce without crushing Hezbollah or winning the captives’ release.

The deaths of 34 soldiers in last-minute battles just before the truce took hold only deepened the outrage, as have reports that the military was so ill-prepared that it didn’t even have enough food, water or bullets for its fighters.

Olmert, in office just two months when the war broke out, has pinned some of the blame on his predecessors, saying they had ignored the Lebanese guerrilla group’s arms buildup.

But his efforts to deflect responsibility haven’t dispelled mounting calls for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry with the power to dismiss government officials.

Olmert has sidestepped calls for such an inquiry. However, he said Monday he wouldn’t be party to “self-flagellation” and that Israel doesn’t have the luxury to conduct such a drawn-out investigation.

Instead, he’s asked Attorney General Meni Mazuz to draw up a list of alternative reviews that could be conducted, and that list was to be ready within a day or two, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday.

One such alternative would be the much-criticized review that Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered shortly after last week’s cease-fire took hold. Security officials said that review - which was not to include Peretz’s own performance - was suspended after just a day’s work until Olmert and his Cabinet decide which way to go.

Growing public calls for an independent investigation might force Olmert’s hand.

A majority of parliament’s powerful Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee supports such an inquiry because of the many failings during the war, said Yatom, of the moderate Labor Party, a member in the ruling coalition.

“Only a state commission of inquiry has the authority and the necessary tools to investigate this so the entire country knows what repairs need to be made,” Yatom said.

Fighters themselves have also demanded a reckoning.

On Monday, a forum of commanders and pilots in the reserves issued a letter demanding a sweeping inquiry, saying the war “has strained to the breaking point the trust between the (Israel Defense Force) and the people.”

Other groups of bereaved families and reservists have demanded that Olmert, Halutz and Peretz step down, some circulating petitions to that effect.

About two reservists were camped outside parliament Tuesday, calling for the government to quit.

“I left my wife and my 10-year-old son and risked my life to get the kidnapped soldiers back, to push back Hezbollah and to stop katyushas (rockets),” said one of the protesters, 32-year-old reserve infantry soldier Reuven Sharon. “Nothing of that happened. Now I want the government to take responsibility for it. They need to say ‘we’re sorry, we didn’t succeed, we’re going home’.”

Although calls for an inquiry into the war have grown louder with each passing day, they do not necessarily pose a threat to the Olmert government’s survival. None of the members of the governing coalition have an interest in dissolving parliament, and the opposition doesn’t have enough votes to do so.

Meanwhile, the cease-fire that ended the war has proven to be as fragile as its detractors forecast, with European nations balking at sending large numbers of peacekeepers, and Israel objecting to the inclusion of troops from nations that don’t recognize it.

Italy, which had signaled willingness to take on a major role in the peacekeeping mission, threatened on Tuesday to withhold troops if Israel didn’t respect the cease-fire.

“From Israel we expect a renewed commitment, and this time really binding, to respect the cease-fire,” Italian Foreign Minister Massimon D’Alema was quoted as saying by Rome daily La Repubblica. “It is right to insist that the Hezbollah (Lebanese guerrillas) put down their arms, but we cannot send our soldiers into Lebanon if the IDF (Israel Defense Force) continues to shoot.”

Israel has clashed with Hezbollah several times since the truce was declared, claiming it was acting in self-defense. Israeli aircraft have also flown over Lebanon.

Three predominantly Muslim nations - Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh - have also volunteered to send peacekeepers, and on Tuesday, Indonesia insisted on its right to participate in the mission, despite Israel’s objections.

The U.N. cease-fire resolution does not explicitly give Israel authority to block countries from joining the peacekeeping mission, but it does say the force should “coordinate its activities ... with the government of Lebanon and government of Israel.”