Word: olmert
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Aviv park last Thursday, more than 40,000 people gathered to remind Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the fierce 34-day attack on Lebanon failed to achieve one crucial goal: to free two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizballah militants. And a smaller but no less lethal military operation in Gaza - in which more than 200 Palestinians were killed - has yet to rescue a third Israeli soldier who was grabbed in June by Palestinian militants...
What's perhaps surprising is that so few of Olmert's detractors have criticized his decision to launch the war after Hizballah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers on July 12. Nor has the bloody draw with Hizballah occasioned any doubt over the long-standing doctrine that Israel must meet force from its enemies with an overwhelming force of its own. What riles Israelis is that Olmert and his generals didn't hit harder and with more deadly effect. Says Golan: "There's a sense that if the army had been allowed to pulverize Hizballah, we could...
Instead, Israelis are left with the uneasy feeling of unfinished business. A new poll by the Israeli Policy Center found that 73% of Israelis believe Olmert's foray into Lebanon increased the chances of another conflict. Sharon Reuven, one of the reservists camping out in front of the Prime Minister's office, believes that another war with Hizballah and its allies Syria and Iran is inevitable. "We want Olmert to resign immediately because tomorrow will be dangerous, and we'll need a strong leader to defend Israel," she says. But Israel's adversaries believe its leaders still haven...
...fact, the Lebanon war will probably make Israel even less open to compromise. Olmert, according to his aides, confided to his Cabinet that he intends to shelve his promise to remove some Israeli settlers from the West Bank as part of a disengagement from the Palestinians. The reversal is a sign of a new reality: after the Lebanon fiasco, Olmert doesn't have enough popular support for any plan that would give back land without something in return. If Olmert decides to make a scapegoat of Defense Minister Amir Peretz, the Labor Party may leave the coalition government. To remain...
...Olmert may yet survive. Says Avi Dichter, Minister for Internal Security, who is sometimes mentioned as a replacement for Peretz: "Emotions are running high right now. In Israel we have one chief of staff and 1 million unofficial chiefs of staff. Everyone has an opinion." Once Israelis see that the United Nations peacekeeping force can halt the rocket fire from southern Lebanon, says Dichter, tempers will cool. In the rose garden, however, more reservists join the protests every day. They swear they won't leave until Olmert does...