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Special report: Israel, Lebanon agree on ceasefire

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attends a weekly cabinet meeting in his office in Jerusalem April 29, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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JERUSALEM, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Coalition Chairman of Kadima party Avigdor Yitzhaki is planning to call on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign during a meeting of the party faction on Thursday, Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.

Sources in Olmert's Kadima party were quoted as saying earlier on Tuesday that Yitzhaki is gathering signatures for a letter he will present to Olmert on Thursday, asking him to resign in response to the Winograd Committee's scathing report on the handling of last summer's Lebanon War.

A penal led by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd formally presented an interim report on the Lebanon War which blamed Israeli top leaders for "severe failures."

The scathing Winograd Committee interim report said that Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF)Chief of Staff Dan Halutz all failed in their roles during last summer's Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Yitzhaki has spoken on Tuesday with a number of Kadima lawmakers on the possibility of replacing Olmert. Those who spoke to the coalition chairman were quoted by local daily Ha'aretz assaying that they had discussed the need to replace Olmert immediately.

During the discussions, Yitzhaki named Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as the preferred successor to Olmert, which the Kadima lawmakers said they understood to mean that the move had been coordinated with her.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been working toward forcing Olmert to resign, sources in the prime minister's office said on Tuesday.

Israel's Channel 10 television also reported that Livni told her aides on Tuesday that "Olmert must go."

Local Channel 2 television said that a majority of the Kadima faction intend to back a call asking the prime minister to go.

According to a Yedioth Ahronoth report, Olmert's aides said that the foreign minister has been secretly meeting with Kadima party's Knesset (parliament) members to discuss the possibility of replacing Olmert.

In a televised address to the nation following the release of the Winograd report on Monday, Olmert insisted that he would not step down.

Livni is viewed publicly as the leading candidate to replace Olmert as Kadima chairman as the foreign minister escape almost any criticism in the Winograd report and has refrained from providing Olmert with any public support.

JERUSALEM, April 30 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli government-appointed committee Monday accuses Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz of failing in their roles in last summer's Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

The panel led by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd made the remarks at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon as he formally released an interim report looking into Israeli leader's management of the conflict which Israel called the Second Lebanon War. Full story

Israeli PM refuses to resign after war criticism

JERUSALEM, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that he would not resign despite a penal report blaming him for launching last summer's war with Lebanese Hezbollah without sufficient deliberation.

In the wake of the scathing Winograd Committee interim report, Prime Minister Olmert vowed in a special TV address that he will not resign despite the report's harsh conclusions, local newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported. Full story

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