"True, the commission must act responsibly regarding stability in the country," a commission member said, "but it must also fulfilling fairly the obligation with which it was charged."

The prospect of early elections is already in the air, as expectations increase that PM Olmert will be sharply castigated in the Winograd Commission's interim report a month from now.

 

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One member of the Commission, headed by retired justice Eliyahu Winograd (pictured), said, "I am sorry to say that we are about to join the atmosphere of aleihum (Get them!) against the top political and military leadership."



"True, the commission is obligated to act responsibly regarding stability in the country," the member told Maariv, "but it cannot avoid fulfilling fairly the obligation with which it was charged."



If further indications were needed regarding the drift of the commission's report, a source considered "close to the commission" told Maariv that it decided to publicize its report only after the Passover holiday "in order not to spoil the holiday."



The Kadima Party is already showing signs of concern - and looking for a replacement for Olmert.  "If we have a fight over Olmert's successor," a senior Kadima minister said, "we will disintegrate." He said that the entire party must support Olmert "at least until the publication of the final Winograd report."



Olmert was never the popularly-acclaimed leader of the Kadima Party. After Ariel Sharon formed Kadima and later fell ill in January 2006, Olmert took over as Prime Minister, and then the leadership of the party. This was by virtue of the fact that back in 2003, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Sharon had named Olmert the Acting Prime Minister - a position that was not existent in most Israeli governments beforehand.



Though Kadima leaders Tzipi Livni and Meir Sheetrit made stuttering noises at the time about possibly wanting to vie for the party leadership, these noises quickly died down in the name of "party unity in this difficult hour."

Posters have now appeared in Jerusalem calling for Foreign Minister Livni to replace Olmert as Prime Minister.  Some feel that Livni may be the only one who could defeat Binyamin Netanyahu.  Netanyahu and other Likud leaders have implied that some Kadima members wish to return to the Likud.



Early elections are not the only immediate scenario, if Olmert is advised to "draw conclusions." The Prime Minister could simply resign his position, leaving Acting Prime Minister Livny to take his place, with a grace period in which to attempt to form a new government.



MK Benny Elon of the opposition National Union party calls upon Olmert not to dither but rather to make a quick decision.  Speaking with Army Radio this morning, Elon said, "Olmert must make a self-reckoning. We are facing existential dangers, and we cannot afford to undergo a stormy period.  Everything must be done quickly: If there are to be new elections, or he decides to form a new coalition, then it must be done quickly... I don't like to throw stones at someone who is falling, and I like and admire him; he found himself in an impossible situation of a one-man party left by ArikSharon. I just ask that he act quickly." 



Speaking yesterday with Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine, Elon was more critical of the Prime Minister. "[The government has] no real foreign or security policies," Elon said. "It appears that Olmert's only objective is to say things that will find favor with the left-wing in order to possibly save himself.  He himself has said that Israel cannot afford to give up on the Quartet's demands [upon Hamas[ and cannot afford to allow the Gaza Strip to turn into an arsenal of weapons. Yet he says irresponsible things like 'there is a diplomatic process' and that the Mecca Agreeement [of national unity between Fatah and Hamas] at least recognizes Israel - which he himself knows is a lie and that in fact there is a ticking timebomb in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria as well."



MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) said that it is the Winograd Commission that must act quickly: "It should act to reduce, as much as possible, the death throes of the government, and publicize its interim findings as quickly as possible, in order to enable the learning of the lessons from the grave mistakes that were revealed in the handling of the war... The government is living on borrowed time, and cannot function in the few days it has left."



MK Yisrael Katz (Likud) said that Olmert and Peretz should not wait until the official publication of the findings: "They should rather resign immediately, as did Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. Only this will put an end to the shake-up this country is undergoing."



Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim (Kadima) said today, "There is great pressure upon Olmert - largely created by the media... In the face of the pressure upon him, he is displaying great skill in navigating the country, even under the very difficult issues it faces."