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Winograd panelist regrets not calling on Olmert to resign

Winograd panelist regrets not calling on Olmert to resign
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Source: AFP, 04-07-2008

OCCUPIED 'JERUSALEM' (AL-QUDS): A member of the panel that probed the disastrous summer 2006 'Israeli' war in Lebanon said on Thursday he regretted not having recommended at the time that Premier Ehud Olmert resign over his role in the conflict. "I was sure that the prime minister would resign. It's amazing this hasn't happened yet. This is not what I expected. It's beyond my nightmares," professor Yehezkel Dror told YNet News.

"I regret that ... I did not insist that the report would include an institutional recommendation to the government and its head to resign following the findings," said Dror, who was a member of the Winograd Commission that probed the war.

Olmert is currently fighting for his political life over the latest in a string of corruption claims against him. He came under intense pressure to resign in April 2007 after the commission made its preliminary findings, accusing him of "serious failure" but stopping short of calling on him to quit.

The final report came out in January. It slammed 'Israel's' political and military leaders, but said Olmert had acted in the country's best interests during the 34-day conflict.

'Israel' failed to achieve its two objectives in the war. The first was to rescue the two occupation soldiers who were captured by Hizbullah in a border skirmish on July 12, 2006. 'Israel' used the border incident as a pretext to launch its failed 2006 war.

The second was to destroy Hizbullah's ability to fire rockets on 'Israel'. Some 4,000 hit the country during the conflict.

When-military chief of staff Lieutenant General Dan Halutz resigned after the war, as did then-War Minister Amir Peretz. However, Olmert hung on.

Dror said he does not trust the prime minister, and said current peace talks with Syria and the Palestinians are superficial manoeuvres that lack any deep, long-term and strategic thinking on Olmert's part.

"In order to make difficult decisions in a democratic country - whether to divide 'Jerusalem' (al-Quds) or not, whether to evacuate settlements or not - one needs a lot of [political] strength," Dror said.

"All the public opinion polls show that the public has no faith in the prime minister and doesn't believe him ... I wouldn't let the prime minister make important strategic decisions in regards to the future."

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