After weeks of indecision and uncertainty, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will reportedly present to the Cabinet this Sunday his proposal as to how to investigate the way the recent war was handled.
Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz have been accused of lack of preparedness, widespread misjudgements and even making military decisions based on internal political considerations during the war with Hizbullah. In addition, many say they did not achieve the goals they promised before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Olmert continues to resist continuing widespread calls for an authoritative investigative commission that can subpoena witnesses and essentially fire high-ranking officials. Instead, he has appointed a five-man commission that will attempt to investigate how both the government and the military ran the recent war - but that will not have the authorities a State Commission would have.
Olmert has, however, partially surrendered to the pressure, naming a judge - former Tel Aviv Regional Court President Eliyahu Vinograd - to head the committee. After Attorney General Menachem Mazuz disqualified two of Olmert's nominees to the committee, and after Olmert's choice to head the committee quit on his own, the final composition will be: Vinograd, Law Prof. Ruth Gavizon, retired Generals Menachem Einan and Chaim Nadel, and Prof. Yechezkel Dror.
In the meanwhile, Opposition Leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu and Labor Party Minister Ophir Pines have proposed that Aharon Barak, who retired yesterday (Thursday) as Supreme Court Chief Justice, head a State Commission of Inquiry. Barak has agreed to do so, if Olmert asks him.
Minister Pines, along with three other Labor Party ministers in the government, plan to vote against Olmert's proposal on Sunday. One of them, Eitan Cabel, said yet again today, "The crisis [of trust] between the public and the government will not be solved by the committee that Olmert wishes to appoint."
The Prime Minister, however, enjoys a comfortable majority for his proposal amongst the other coalition members - his own Kadima Party, Shas, and the Pensioners Party.
Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz have been accused of lack of preparedness, widespread misjudgements and even making military decisions based on internal political considerations during the war with Hizbullah. In addition, many say they did not achieve the goals they promised before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Olmert continues to resist continuing widespread calls for an authoritative investigative commission that can subpoena witnesses and essentially fire high-ranking officials. Instead, he has appointed a five-man commission that will attempt to investigate how both the government and the military ran the recent war - but that will not have the authorities a State Commission would have.
Olmert has, however, partially surrendered to the pressure, naming a judge - former Tel Aviv Regional Court President Eliyahu Vinograd - to head the committee. After Attorney General Menachem Mazuz disqualified two of Olmert's nominees to the committee, and after Olmert's choice to head the committee quit on his own, the final composition will be: Vinograd, Law Prof. Ruth Gavizon, retired Generals Menachem Einan and Chaim Nadel, and Prof. Yechezkel Dror.
In the meanwhile, Opposition Leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu and Labor Party Minister Ophir Pines have proposed that Aharon Barak, who retired yesterday (Thursday) as Supreme Court Chief Justice, head a State Commission of Inquiry. Barak has agreed to do so, if Olmert asks him.
Minister Pines, along with three other Labor Party ministers in the government, plan to vote against Olmert's proposal on Sunday. One of them, Eitan Cabel, said yet again today, "The crisis [of trust] between the public and the government will not be solved by the committee that Olmert wishes to appoint."
The Prime Minister, however, enjoys a comfortable majority for his proposal amongst the other coalition members - his own Kadima Party, Shas, and the Pensioners Party.