Last update - 00:00 21/05/2007
PM set to address Knesset over Winograd findings next week
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will address the Knesset plenum next week in which he will respond to the findings of the Winograd Committee, charged with investigating the government's handling of the Second Lebanon War.
Olmert, who has until now refrained from making a lengthy public speech on the subject, will address the Knesset after 46 MKs signed a petition requiring him to do so.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) asked to hold the Knesset session next Tuesday, but a number of MKs prefer Wednesday, a day on which more members of Knesset are expected to attend parliamentary sessions.
Meanwhile, Olmert is expected to meet with the newly formed panel in charge of implementing the Winograd recommendations.
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz last week approved the appointment of former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak to head the committee.
The PMO said the committee will present its findings within 30 days of starting its work, and not since the government announced its formation some two weeks ago.
Besides Lipkin-Shahak, the committee will be made up of a mixed representation from the civil service, military personnel and private sector. Civil service and military officials include senior Defense Ministry official Yechiel Horev; Foreign Ministry Director-General Aharon Abramovich; National Security Council head Ilan Mizrahi; Head of Plans and Policy Directorate in the IDF Major General Ido Nahushtan and top Mossad and Shin Bet officials.
From the private sector, the committee will include the former chairman of the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva; Lawyer Mickey Zellermeyer; National Security Council deputy head, IDF Reserves Brigadier General Yisraela Oron and former deputy foreign minister, Dr. Yehuda Ben-meir.