Last update - 00:00 24/01/2007
Peretz begins testimony on Lebanon war before Winograd panel
By Gideon Alon and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents
Defense Minister Amir Peretz has arrived at the Winograd panel's offices in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to give his testimony on failures during the Lebanon war.
Outgoing Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz is scheduled to give his testimony to the panel early next week, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who will be the panel\s final witness, is likely to testify February 1. The panel's interim report is expected at the beginning of March.
In private conversations, Peretz has said that he believes he can prove that his responsibility for the failures is relatively small and that he can present documents to that effect.
Major General (Res.) Doron Almog on Tuesday presented to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee his findings in the inquiry into the abduction of Israel Defense Forces soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Almog uncovered a chain of failures at all levels of command.
Almog told the committee that had the soldiers been briefed on the morning before the abduction, Regev and Goldwasser would not have been kidnapped and their three fellow soldiers would not have been killed. Almog added that had the chief of staff acted responsibly and taken an active role in terms of preparing for the option of abduction, the soldiers would not have been abducted.
Commenting on the report, Committee member MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) said in response to the report that the inquiry reflected failures at all levels of command, including the General Staff.
MK Silvan Shalom (Likud) said the inquiry revealed that the chief of staff was unaware of basic facts prior to the war.