Last update - 00:00 06/12/2006
Panel member: Gov't denying Lebanon war probe access to records
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Neither government ministries nor the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee are cooperating with the Winograd Committee's investigation of this summer's war in Lebanon, and as a result, the committee's work has been delayed, a member of the committee told Haaretz on Tuesday.
But a spokesman for the committee denied this, saying that the panel has enjoyed complete cooperation from government agencies.
About two weeks ago, the Winograd panel asked the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for the protocols of its meetings during and prior to the war.
These protocols reveal the real-time opinions of various defense officials, and therefore provide a check against the explanations that these same officials have offered after the fact. As such, they are critical to the investigation.
However, the Foreign Affairs Committee refused to hand over the documents, saying that by law, all of its protocols are classified as "top secret" and can only be disclosed after 30 years.
According to Committee Chair Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima), there is no precedent for the committee giving copies of its protocols to anyone, even serving ministers or Knesset members.
Following this refusal, the Winograd panel began negotiating with the committee, and in the end, following consultations with both the Knesset's legal advisor and the Foreign Affairs Committee's legal advisor, the parties agreed that the protocols would be released upon receipt of a written pledge from former judge Eliyahu Winograd, who heads the inquiry panel.
In his letter, Winograd promised that the committee's report would not include any direct quotes from the protocols, and that the secrecy of the material would be guarded. As a result, the Winograd Committee is expected to receive the protocols in the next few days.
A similar problem, which seems yet unresolved, relates to documents that the panel wants from the Foreign Ministry. However, the ministry insists it is "cooperating fully with the committee. All the documents that have been requested of the ministry have been transferred. There are additional documents that will be transferred soon."
The High Court of Justice, which last week decided not to overturn the government's decision to establish the Winograd panel instead of a state commission of inquiry, also said that despite its decision not to intervene, it feared that the panel lacked the powers needed for a thorough investigation of the war.
But Winograd Committee spokesman Eli Shaked insists the panel has all the legal powers it needs to obtain documents and summon witnesses, and that all the committee members feel the government is cooperating fully.
On Wednesday, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz will testify before the committee. He is considered one of the most important witnesses, because from 1998 until a few months before the war, he served continuously in key defense posts, first as IDF chief of staff, and later as defense minister. The committee is expected to ask him about Israel's view of the Hezbollah threat in the years following its pullout from south Lebanon in May 2000.
On Tuesday, the panel heard testimony from IDF spokeswoman Miri Regev and the head of the Military Intelligence research division, Yossi Baiditz. Regev was asked about her unit's informational efforts during the war. Baiditz, who until May 2005 served as the Northern Command's chief intelligence officer, was asked what information the Northern Command had about Hezbollah at that time.
Yuval Yoaz adds: Meanwhile, the Movement for Quality Government asked the High Court Tuesday to hold a rehearing, with a larger panel of justices, on the movement's petition against the Winograd Committee.
The court upheld the committee's establishment in a narrow 4-3 ruling last week, with the minority arguing that the government should be forced to disband it and establish a state commission of inquiry in its place.