Release of Olmert's war testimony delayed

Jerusalem, Apr 20: Israel's Lebanon war investigative commission won court approval to delay publication of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's testimony until after the release of its interim findings later this month.

The two-week gap set by the High Court between publication of the Winograd Commission's interim report and transcripts of the testimony on which it will base its conclusions could prolong public uncertainty over Olmert's political future.

''Winograd's credibility has been damaged, because it will be hard to assess the credibility of the findings if the interim report is published without accompanying testimony,'' legal expert Moshe Negbi said on Israel Radio yesterday.

Under public pressure, Olmert's government appointed the five-member inquiry board of jurists and former generals to examine the way Israeli leaders and military officers conducted the inconclusive 34-day war against Hezbollah guerrillas.

An Israeli government source said the commission's interim findings were likely to appear on April 28 or 29.

The commission and the government, citing security concerns and time constraints in readying the initial findings, joined recently in petitioning the court to amend an original ruling to publish testimony transcripts immediately.

Testimony by Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, in which he said he would not have launched the war, was published last month.

But comments made to the commission by Olmert, Defence Minister Amir Peretz and Dan Halutz, who resigned as the military's chief of staff after the war, have not been released.

The testimonies were made behind closed doors and would be submitted to military censors before publication.

''From a practical point of view, the commission should not be required to release transcripts immediately, mainly so that the interim report can be published at the planned date,'' the court said in its ruling.

In the fighting that followed Hezbollah's seizure of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid into Israel last June, the West Asia's most powerful army failed to crush the militant group, which fired 4,000 rockets into the Jewish state.

Olmert has said Israel won strategic gains in the war through a ceasefire agreement under which a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force deployed in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah had been in control.

Reuters