`Absence of a Guiding Hand` During Lebanon War

Source: Al-Manar, 02-11-2007
Confusion, duplicity, and the absence of a guiding hand - that was the picture on the northern front during the Second Lebanon War, according to the testimony of "Israeli" Major General Yitzhak Gershon before the Winograd Commission. The testimony, which was cleared for publication on Thursday, pours light on the commotion which gripped some of the shelled communities - and attempts to explain the unbearable gaps in bomb shelter standards among different areas.
"I am dealing with one of the most complex operational issues in "Israel"," Gershon told members of the Winograd Committee.
"I am at peace with myself over the preparations of the Home Front Command for the war we went through, as well as the conduct of the Command during the war. I say that without denying the fact that internal organizational and inter-organizational, inter-departmental failures were uncovered," he said.
The current situation, Gershon claims, is that "the "Israeli" home front from the perspective of the authorities and other organizations is in a very problematic situation. And as time goes by, the legal and judicial infrastructure on which these bodies rest (is deteriorating). "The bodies are outdated, anachronistic; I could even say hark back to the time of the mandate... they are not what we think they should be. There are positive and less positive aspects to it," he remarked.