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Poll Shows Israeli PM Losing Support

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is resisting calls to resign after an official inquiry described his handling of last summer's Lebanon war as a failure.

A poll showed that 69 percent of Israelis believe Olmert should resign after an official inquiry condemned his waging of the war against Hezbollah, reports . The commission accused Olmert of "severe failure in judgment, responsibility and caution."

Cabinet member Eitan Cabel, a junior minister from the Labor Party, resigned after the report was released, saying, "Ehud Olmert must resign."

"I can no longer sit in a government led by Ehud Olmert," said Cabel.

Newspaper editorials and commentators agreed, saying he had lost the confidence of the Israeli people. The report "contains not even one lenient word to which the prime minister could cling in order to prolong his term," the Haaretz newspaper said in an editorial.

In other developments:

  • Palestinian security forces know the identity of the kidnappers of British reporter Alan Johnston, but are not going to use force to win his release, a Palestinian security chief said in an interview published Tuesday.Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, meanwhile, said he is working "quietly but actively" to release the 44-year old British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent.
  • Palestinian teachers in the West Bank have gone on strike to press for the payment of salaries that are long overdue. The teachers have not been paid in full since the international community imposed sanctions on the Islamic militant group Hamas when it took power a year ago. Hamas formed a unity government with Palestinian moderates in March in a bid to end the boycott. But Hamas refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel, so sanctions remain in place.

    It was not clear whether Cabel's resignation would trigger other defections. Olmert's Kadima Party and Labor are the coalition's two biggest factions.

    "The Prime Minister is going to survive at least until the next investigation," analyst Gil Hoffman said.

    At an official event on Tuesday, Olmert nodded off several times while waiting to address the audience. On the dais, though, he was jocular and composed, but pointedly made no reference to the war probe.

    Olmert was only months on the job when the war broke out after Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon killed three soldiers and captured two others in a July 12 cross-border raid.

    Israel set out to retrieve the soldiers and crush Hezbollah, which had built up an arsenal of thousands of rockets following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.

    Neither objective was obtained during 34 days of fighting, and Israel was traumatized by nearly 4,000 rockets that bombarded northern communities.

    Between 1,035 and 1,191 Lebanese civilians and combatants were killed in the fighting, as were 119 Israeli soldiers and 39 civilians, according to official figures from the two sides.

    A U.N.-brokered cease-fire pushed Hezbollah away from Israel's border. But Israeli intelligence officials have warned the group is rearming with the help of its Iranian and Syrian backers.

    The inconclusive outcome of the war cracked apart the solid support that Olmert enjoyed when Israel went into battle. The criticism was stoked by reports from returning troops of confused orders, and shortages in equipment as basic as water and bullets.

    Olmert's support evaporated after the war, causing him to shelve an ambitious plan to pull out of much of the West Bank. But backed by a coalition with a solid majority in parliament, Olmert on Monday rebuffed new demands to step down.

    "It would not be correct to resign, and I have no intention of resigning," he said in a brief televised statement from his office.

    His spokeswoman said Tuesday that Olmert would study the findings over the next few days and build a program to remedy the problems it identified.

    "He has complete awareness of the lack of public confidence, but he feels that rather than go into a period of turmoil, he must be the one to fix the problems," Miri Eisin said. "He thinks that through his actions, (public) support will come."

    There were no protests outside his office on Tuesday, but demonstrators from across the country were planning to start walking later in the day to Tel Aviv, where a mass rally by opponents is scheduled for Thursday.

    "There's no question" he must go, said Zeev Crombie, a 50-year-old resident of the northern city of Safed, which was hit by many Hezbollah rockets during the war. "In the eyes of the Arabs, we were defeated. And that gives them a lot of courage to continue to try to wipe us out."

    The prime minister's best hope for remaining in office appeared to rest in his coalition partners' fear of new elections, which polls predict would bring opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu of the hawkish Likud Party to power.

    Olmert confidants have said only mass protests could force him to quit. He also might face an uprising within Kadima that might force him out of office.

    On Monday, Haniyeh's deputy, Azzam al-Ahmed, said the BBC reporter Alan Johnson's captors had called earlier in the day with new demands in exchange for his release.

    Rashid Abu Shbak, who supervises several Palestinian security forces in the West Bank and Gaza, told the Al Ayyam daily that the volatile situation in the coastal territory didn't permit a rescue raid.

    "The security forces know the identity of the group that kidnapped Johnston," he said, adding that the British government had asked President Mahmoud Abbas not to resort to force in releasing Johnston "so as not to endanger his life."

    Johnston was seized March 12, making him the longest held foreign journalist in the increasingly lawless strip. Little has been reported about his whereabouts or condition.

    A little-known group claimed to have killed Johnston, but provided no evidence of their claim. Al-Ahmed said Monday the kidnappers said in their most recent phone call that Johnston is in good health.

    Haniyeh told a news conference Tuesday that his office is working to free Johnston.

    "We are working quietly but actively on the issue of kidnapped journalist Alan Johnston. I have authorized somebody from my office to follow up this issue. He is communicating with several sides. I hope this will be fruitful in ending this issue," Haniyeh said.

    BBC officials have previously denied that the abductors have made any demands.

    A dozen journalists and foreign workers have been kidnapped in Gaza in the past 18 months, but most of them were released within hours unharmed. No abductors were ever charged or tried for the kidnappings.

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