Word: olmert
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Peretz have been peppering their public statements with calls for resolve, patience and courage in the coming, uncertain days. Speculation about wide-ranging ground operations and the duration of the war fill local newspapers. On Thursday, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz implied that what's commonly called a two-front war in Lebanon and Gaza could be seen as a three-front war - including the West Bank, which many Israelis call Judea and Samaria - and could last a while: "The fighting in the north was added to the fighting in Judea, Samaria...
...Olmert and Peretz have displayed a determiniation that was sorely lacking in previous governments," reads a front-page editorial this morning in the Hebrew-language newspaper Ma'ariv. That's significant praise, given the concerns within Israel that greeted the cabinet formed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert is clearly the man on the spot in the current outbreak of hostilities with Hizballah and the ongoing operations in Gaza. But perhaps the most surprising aspect of the current crisis is that a one-time member of Peace Now, a champion of social welfare issues and a negotiated two-state solution...
...wonder that from the moment Olmert chose Peretz, a Moroccan-born ex-union leader, as Defense Minister earlier this year, questions arose about his qualifications; like Olmert himself, Peretz lacked the military command experience almost all Israeli political leaders have possessed. Defense wasn't even the cabinet position he wanted. Last fall, he defeated Shimon Peres for Labour's top post and pulled his party out of Sharon's coalition, forcing Sharon to call new elections. Peretz tried to leverage Labour's second-place finish into a prominent cabinet post. He wanted Finance, but had to settle for Defense...
...fact, Peretz confirmed some of his critics' fears. He sparred with his boss and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) generals when he pushed to reopen a long-closed commercial crossing point into Gaza and advocated talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Before the present crisis began, he and Olmert were heavily criticized for failing to stem rocket fire from Gaza into Israeli towns - including the hometown where Peretz returned every night to sleep. When he slept, that is. Aides said then, and military officials say now, that Peretz sleeps little, putting in extra hours to micromanage military affairs...
...work with him say he has yet to master military terminology and seems almost giddily impressed with the IDF's ultramodern technological surveillance mechanisms. Some have questioned whether he directs the generals or they direct him. But his working relationships, both with the generals and with Prime Minister Olmert, appear to be good. And Peretz has matched tough rhetoric - "We expected Hizballah to break the rules, and now we intend to break them," he told reporters last week - with a willingness to fire back at critics. "Hizballah's growing strength did not begin when Amir Peretz showed up," he told...