JERUSALEM, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- About 1,000 protestors rallied outside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's residence in Jerusalem, demanding the government to launch a full-scale state inquiry into handling of the July-August Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

    The protestors lit torches and chanted "Olmert go home", while calling army's Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Olmert "inquiry dodgers", referring Olmert's declining to establish a state inquiry commission with the power of dismissing top officials.

    On Sept. 17, the Israeli cabinet approved the formation of a government inquiry committee, headed by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, to look into the handling of the decisions made by Israel's political and military leaders during the 34-day Israel-Lebanon conflict.

    Olmert has promised that the Winograd commission will be given the same authority as a state commission.

    Earlier, Olmert had authorized to set up two governmental commissions, which would separately investigate arrangements of the war, instead of launching the state inquiry.

    But the decision has drawn criticism from both the public and the politicians, who have widely called for a state inquiry committee to probe the issue.

    After the Israel-Lebanon conflict ended thanks to a UN-brokered truce, Olmert has admitted that there were shortcomings in the handling of the war.

    Violence between the two sides erupted on July 12 after Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others during cross-border attacks.

    The 37-day-long fighting killed 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, as well as nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians. Enditem