Most "Israelis" want Olmert, Peretz to follow Halutz`s lead and quit - poll

Source: AFP, 19-1-2007
JERUSALEM (AL-QUDS): The majority of "Israelis" want Premier Ehud Olmert and his defense (War) minister to resign over the failures of recent war on Lebanon, according to a poll released Thursday.
The poll was released a day after military chief of staff Lieutenant General Dan Halutz quit, the most senior official to do so over the summer 2006 war.
When asked whether Defense Minister Amir Peretz should follow suit, 70.9 percent said yes, compared with 26 percent opposed, said the poll, which was conducted by Geocartographia Institute.
When asked whether Olmert should resign, 50.2 percent said yes, compared with 42.9 percent opposed.
Some 58 percent of "Israelis" said they were in favor of early elections, compared with 37 percent against.
When asked whether Olmert, facing a criminal corruption probe, would follow Lieutenant General Dan Halutz`s example and quit, a senior aide told AFP: "No, he has no such intention." Peretz, who most observers in "Israel" predict will be the next head to roll over the summer 2006 war, was just as adamant.
"As defense minister, my intention is to continue the mission," he said during a speech at a naval graduation ceremony late Wednesday.
Halutz`s resignation came only hours after the nation`s chief prosecutor ordered a criminal graft probe against Olmert.
The attorney general`s office said on Thursday that Olmert could have some of his powers limited during the probe if necessary, though the prime minister was not obligated at this time to suspend himself from his post.
Joining a chorus of opposition lawmakers, "Israel`s" three leading dailies said on Thursday it was only a matter of time before the deeply unpopular Olmert and Peretz go.
A political analyst for the mass-selling Yediot Ahronot wrote: "What public security authority do these two have to choose the next ["Israeli" military] chief of staff?" "They, who should have been the first to immediately hand back the keys after the war," he wrote.
"Are they, these two lame ducks - one because of a police investigation and the other who may be kicked out by his own party soon - worthy of appointing the person who will take on the management of the army at one of the hardest times ever in its history?"
A commentator in the liberal Haaretz newspaper wrote that Peretz was nearly certain to lose his job.
"Troubles are closing in on Olmert ... With the chief of staff gone, Olmert has been left alone among the leadership that managed the failed war in Lebanon," he wrote.