Israel planned for war months in advance

Preparations for Israel's war in Lebanon last summer were drawn up at least four months before two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah in July, Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, has admitted. His submission to a commission of inquiry, leaked on Mar. 8, contradicted the impression at the time that Israel was provoked into a battle for which it was ill-prepared. Olmert told the Winograd commission, a panel of judges charged with investigating Israel's perceived defeat in the 34-day war, that he first discussed the possibility of war in January and asked to see military plans in March. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which obtained details of Olmert's testimony, the prime minister chose a plan featuring air attacks on Lebanon and a limited ground operation that would be implemented following a Hezbollah abduction. Hezbollah had made several attempts to capture Israeli soldiers on the border since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000. Israeli commentators believed that Olmert and Amir Peretz, the defense minister, took the opportunity of the kidnapping to show they could manage a war in spite of their limited military experience. But the outcome of the war seemed to highlight their lack of experience and also deficiencies in Israel's military planning. The commission's interim report is expected to be delivered by the end of the month. It was appointed by the government but if it were critical of Olmert, it would be unlikely he could continue in office. Shmuel Sandler, a political analyst, said it seemed that people close to Olmert had leaked his submission, made on Feb. 1, in an attempt to increase his popularity. In an opinion poll published this week, only three percent of Israeli voters said they would back Olmert in an election, while 72 percent said he should resign. On July 12, Hezbollah fighters abducted Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, both Israeli reservists, in an incident on the Israel-Lebanon border. Israel responded by launching air strikes on southern Lebanon before attacking other areas. Hezbollah began firing hundreds of rockets at northern Israel. Olmert said at the time that Israel went to war to force the return of the soldiers, eliminate Hezbollah's rocket supplies and push the militia north of the Litani river in southern Lebanon. After a final offensive in which Israel lost 33 soldiers, the government agreed to a cease-fire without having achieved its objectives. In the fighting, 1,200 Lebanese and 158 Israelis were killed. Of the dead, almost 1,000 Lebanese and 41 Israelis were civilians. Olmert told the committee that he had ordered the final offensive to put pressure on the UN security council to improve the wording of the cease-fire in Israel's favor.