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Israeli leader escapes blame

A final report on the 2006 war with Lebanon finds fault with the government and army.

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emerged relatively unscathed from the final report Wednesday on his handling of Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon, even though the inquiry criticized both the government and the army for "serious failings and flaws."

The report stopped short of blaming Olmert personally for what many Israelis saw as a stunning debacle that emboldened the Jewish state's enemies. A harsher indictment could have threatened Olmert's rule and his stated goal of signing a peace treaty with the Palestinians within a year.

The head of a five-member investigative panel, retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, described a U.N.-brokered cease-fire as an "achievement for Israel." And he said Olmert, in ordering a last-minute ground offensive, acted "out of a strong and sincere perception" of what the prime minister thought was "Israel's interest."

The final report stood in sharp contrast to a strongly worded interim report in April, which criticized Olmert for "severe failure" in "hastily" going to war.

The war erupted on July 12, 2006, when Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel, killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. Olmert entered the conflict with enormous support from the Israeli public, but his popularity plunged after the campaign failed to achieve his declared goals - winning the soldiers' release and crushing Hezbollah. The two soldiers have still not been heard from.

Despite calls for his resignation from political opponents, the conventional wisdom was that Olmert would weather the inquiry's findings - a comfort to those who are relying on him to pursue a U.S.-sponsored peace push with the Palestinians after seven years of bloodshed.

GAZA RULING: The Israeli Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the government's decision to slash fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip. Israeli human rights groups had challenged the sanctions, which Israel says are aimed at halting ongoing rocket fire by Gaza militants.

BORDER CRISIS: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Cairo in an effort to resolve a security breach at a border Egypt shares with the Gaza Strip. But Abbas refused to meet with Hamas officials. Hamas militants last week blew open the border, sending more than 500,000 Palestinians into Egypt.

[Last modified January 31, 2008, 01:53:33]