By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
JERUSALEM, Aug. 14 -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday acknowledged mistakes in the war against Hezbollah as the Israeli government confronted widespread criticism and political recriminations over the conflict.
"There have been failings and shortcomings," Olmert, with deep circles under his eyes and a haggard look on his face, told a special session of the Israeli parliament. "We need to examine ourselves in all aspects and all areas. We will not sweep anything under the table, we will not hide anything. We must ensure that next time things will be done better."
Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced he would "conduct a deep and wide investigation on all that occurred before the war erupted and through its duration."
The statements came as Binyamin Netanyahu, an opposition leader and former prime minister, described a "national soul-searching" over risks "threatening our very existence."
Olmert and other political and military leaders have been criticized in the news media and by political analysts as Israelis attempt to grapple with the perception that their military, the most advanced in the Middle East, has been losing a war to guerrilla fighters.
On Monday, Yaron Ezrahi, a Hebrew University professor and one of the country's leading political analysts, echoed Netanyahu's assessment, saying, "There's a collective soul-searching in the army, in the government and in other parts of society."
The anguish, disappointment and confusion are widespread among soldiers who believe their leadership sent them to war unprepared, among residents of northern Israel who say their government abandoned its most vulnerable citizens, and among a public that believes its prime minister has left them open to future attack by agreeing to a cease-fire many think is not permanent.
First Sgt. Dima Gurevich, a 22-year-old reserve soldier in a tank unit, returned from southern Lebanon this weekend feeling anything but victorious after coming under attack by Hezbollah fighters.
"I do not think I was properly prepared and trained for this operation," he said from his bed in the hospital where he was being treated for cuts. "We did not have a good assessment of their capabilities. Tanks and armored personnel vehicles are being hammered by their antitank missiles. It's unconceivable that soldiers are being sent to battle in Lebanon not knowing what to expect."
His sentiment was shared by other soldiers and by Israeli civilians who have commented on the issue in scores of interviews since the war began. Israeli news accounts have published similar appraisals.
"Reservists: Why should we volunteer to be cannon fodder?" read a headline in the daily newspaper Haaretz.
When Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, the head of the Israeli military's logistics branch, was asked Monday about the complaints of many soldiers that they did not have enough food to eat during the combat operations, he told Israel's Army Radio: "If our fighters deep in Lebanese territory are left without food or water, I believe they can break into local Lebanese stores to solve that problem."
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.
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