Olmert Accepts Blame For Operation's 'Failings'

Some residents of northern Israel were as bitter toward the government as soldiers were toward the military. Many of those who emerged from their bunkers for the first time in days or returned home for the first time in weeks accused the government of abandoning the poor, infirm and disabled under a rain of rocket barrages. They said residents with money or relatives elsewhere in the country escaped.

Yossi Sulimani, 49, owner of a mini-market in the battered northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, was one of the first residents to return Monday morning after the cease-fire.

"We evacuated on our own," Sulimani said in describing four weeks of moving between relatives' houses and hostels in central Israel. "Those who did not posses the financial means to evacuate were neglected by the municipality and the government and stayed in the city during the whole war."

Olmert said he accepted the anger and disappointment.

"The responsibility for this operation lies with me," the prime minister said during his address before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. "I am not asking to share this responsibility with anyone whatsoever.

"We have suffered very painful blows, both on the home front and the front lines in the field," he continued. "We did not deceive anyone, we did not delude anyone. We said there will be missiles coming in and we will pay a very dear price.

"I see and hear those voices," he said. "They say they're dissatisfied, they're disappointed, expectations haven't been met. I say to them and to everybody, 'My friends, be patient, be patient.' Our fight against terrorism didn't start yesterday. It's a long, hard, arduous fight."

Speaking to a domestic audience skeptical of his decision to accept a cease-fire -- one that ended most of the fighting a day after Hezbollah sent one of its heaviest rocket barrages of the war across the border -- Olmert insisted that the military "has struck a major blow to this murderous organization."

He added, however, "The extent is not known."

Netanyahu, who followed Olmert at the podium, was more blunt.

"We were asleep, and we heard the alarm bells," he said of much of the criticism.

"There were many, many shortcomings in terms of identifying the threat, in terms of preparing to deal with this threat, in terms of running and conducting the war, in terms of dealing with the home front," Netanyahu said. "Certainly, without doubt, we will subsequently have to draw lessons and set the shortcomings right."

Special correspondent Tal Zipper in Kiryat Shemona contributed to this report.