State auditor raps Israel's strategic planning

By Staff
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JERUSALEM, Sep 27 (Reuters) An internal Israeli state audit criticised successive governments today for faulty decision-making on national security, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the wake of the Lebanon war.

In a report on Israel's National Security Council, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss said the seven-year-old advisory body had been sidelined by prime ministers who preferred the counsel of their personal confidants when planning strategy.

''The findings raise concern regarding the quality of decision-making processes in matters of national security,'' Mr Lindenstrauss wrote. He added that he chose to make the 67-page critique public because it was especially topical ''these days''.

Mr Lindenstrauss appeared to be referring to widespread Israeli criticism of Olmert's handling of the offensive against Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas and a flare-up of violence over the Gaza Strip, which Israel quit last year after 38 years of occupation.

Mr Olmert, a career politician, has defended his policymaking.

But he has also admitted that the recent crises prompted him to shelve a key plan for selective withdrawals from the occupied West Bank, where, along with Gaza, Palestinians seek statehood.

The prime minister has hinted that he will try to resume peacemaking with the Palestinians. Yet his efforts have been complicated by the fact that Hamas Islamists, who advocate the Jewish state's destruction, now control Palestinian government.

Another perceived threat to Israel -- believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal -- is arch-foe Iran's nuclear programme. Seeking broad consensus on the issue, Olmert set up an advisory ''Premier Forum'' comprising three of his predecessors.

GAZA WITHDRAWAL RESONATES The National Security Council was formed in 1999 by then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said it would focus on the threat of non-conventional weapons and ballistic missiles seen in states such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Iran.

The decision was received sceptically by Netanyahu's critics, who accused him of creating unnecessary bureaucracy in a Jewish state whose politics is dominated by former generals.

Arguably the most influential of these was Olmert's predecessor, Ariel Sharon, who was twice elected on the promise of imposing an end to decades of conflict with the Palestinians.

But after military crackdowns failed to quell a Palestinian revolt that erupted in 2000, Sharon ordered the Gaza pullout.

Later media interviews revealed that his advisers on the move included his sons, PR executives, and a corporate attorney.

Israeli rightists considered the Gaza withdrawal a betrayal of biblical land and a spur to further Palestinian violence.

They pointed to Hamas's election win in January as evidence.

Lindenstrauss wrote that misgivings raised by the NSC on the long-term strategic ramifications of the Gaza withdrawal were not discussed by Sharon and his cabinet.

He also deplored the NSC's lack of say in deciding Israel's defence budget, a matter of intense debate since the Lebanon war revealed insufficient training and equipment in some army units.

REUTERS BDP RK2301

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