Pressure growing for Israeli prime minister to step down

JERUSALEM -- Members of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's ruling coalition joined opposition lawmakers Sunday in calling for the Israeli leader and his defense minister to resign after parts of a government report criticizing their handling of last year's war in Lebanon were leaked to local media.

Officials close to the investigation confirmed TV reports that the panel concluded Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz made hasty and ill-judged decisions at the outset of the war.

The report found these errors were compounded by their lack of experience and unfamiliarity with defense issues, the officials said on condition of anonymity pending the report's release.

Olmert's office declined comment until official publication of the report today. Olmert made no mention of the report in his opening statement at the weekly Cabinet meeting. Peretz also did not comment.

Olmert appointed the commission last year to stave off calls for a full-scale judicial inquiry into the government's performance during the war, which began when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid.

Although the five-member commission, headed by a retired judge, has no authority to order resignations, a harsh report could be the final blow to Olmert's grasp on power. Heavy public criticism of the war, along with a string of corruption investigations, have sent his approval rating into free fall.

Olmert has been widely criticized for failing to achieve his goals of returning the soldiers or destroying Hezbollah, which fired nearly 4,000 of rockets into northern Israel. Soldiers returning from the battlefield also have complained of poor training, conflicting orders and shortages of ammunition and food.

The interim report will analyze the first days of the fighting, when the war's objectives were formulated, and the six years between Israel's May 2000 pullout from southern Lebanon and the outbreak of the conflict.

According to the people familiar with the investigation, the panel concluded that Olmert failed to sufficiently question the army's battle plans, publicly stated his war aims without ensuring they were attainable and failed to demand a clear exit strategy.

But after sections of the report reached the Israeli media, a growing number of critics, including members of the ruling coalition, called on Olmert to step down.

Former Cabinet minister Ofir Pines, a member of Peretz's Labor Party, said both men should follow the example of wartime military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, who quit in the face of criticism of his performance.

"I expect the prime minister and the defense minister to stand up and take responsibility and resign," he told Army Radio.