Olmert defies calls to resign

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced an onslaught of calls for his resignation yesterday and a Cabinet minister disillusioned by his leadership quit, following a government panel’s harsh criticism of the Israeli leader’s handling of last summer’s Lebanon war.

Olmert defiantly declared that he would not quit after the panel’s report was released on Monday, despite the inquiry’s conclusion that he showed flawed judgement in ordering and directing the conflict. His spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said yesterday he was confident he could recover his eroded authority.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 Olmert had been working hard to shore up support within his coalition government.In a first crack in that backing, a junior minister from the Labour Party, Eitan Cabel, resigned from the Cabinet to protest the government’s failures in the war and called on the prime minister to follow suit.”Ehud Olmert must resign.He must bear responsibility,” Cabel told a press conference.”I can no longer sit in a government led by Ehud Olmert.”It was not clear whether Cabel’s resignation would trigger other defections.Olmert’s Kadima Party and Labour are the coalition’s two biggest factions.At an official event yesterday, Olmert looked haggard and nodded off several times while waiting to address the audience.On the dais, though, he was jocular and composed, but pointedly made no reference to the war probe.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 traumatised 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.Nampa-APHis spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said yesterday he was confident he could recover his eroded authority.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 Olmert had been working hard to shore up support within his coalition government.In a first crack in that backing, a junior minister from the Labour Party, Eitan Cabel, resigned from the Cabinet to protest the government’s failures in the war and called on the prime minister to follow suit.”Ehud Olmert must resign.He must bear responsibility,” Cabel told a press conference.”I can no longer sit in a government led by Ehud Olmert.”It was not clear whether Cabel’s resignation would trigger other defections.Olmert’s Kadima Party and Labour are the coalition’s two biggest factions.At an official event yesterday, Olmert looked haggard and nodded off several times while waiting to address the audience.On the dais, though, he was jocular and composed, but pointedly made no reference to the war probe.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 traumatised 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.Nampa-AP