Members of his coalition Monday night joined opposition legislators in criticizing his plan. Some 50,000 Israelis have reportedly signed petitions for an investigation by a State Commission of Inquiry over which the government has no control. Israel's history shows that public pressure has succeeded in forcing governments to initiate such inquiries even after a government opted for a less strict investigation.

Olmert presented his plan in an address to mayors who met in Haifa. He started off by highlighting Israel's accomplishments in the month-long war with Hezbollah.

"I know there are arguments about the extent of (Israel's) success," he said. However, "in Beirut and in other Middle Eastern capitals it was understood that we would not gloss over impinging our sovereignty, (or attacking our) citizens and soldiers."

Hezbollah has been forced out of the border area, most of its front line forces were "destroyed," most of its long range missiles were destroyed, and its leaders have become "homeless, wandering ... and seeking refuge." A strong multinational force, based on European armies, is preparing to enter Lebanon and assist its army in deploying along the international border for the first time in 35 years.

"If someone would have predicted such results two months ago we would have said he is exaggerating," Olmert maintained.

He acknowledged Israel failed to stop Hezbollah's rocket attacks -- some 4,000 were fired, according to police -- but Olmert noted that no one has developed a suitable way to stop such attacks. Even full control of an area does not ensure an end to such strikes. And Israel has failed to secure the release of the two reservists whom Hezbollah kidnapped on July 12 in the attack that triggered the war.

One of the criticisms of the government and military was that it continued the fighting even after the Security Council decided on a cease-fire. Thirty-three soldiers were killed in the final stage of the war when the military rushed to reach the Litani River.

Olmert said that that morning Hezbollah had said it would continue fighting and the Lebanese government had not reacted to the Security Council's Resolution 1701, so "it was necessary to continue."

Much of the soldiers' criticism has been directed at the military for conflicting and changing commands, for mistaken moves that cost soldiers lives, for poorly preparing the army and for having failed to take proper care of some 1 million Israelis, often the poor and elderly, who had to spend almost a month in bomb shelters.

"The question is what do you do with such criticism ... and use it to correct what has to be corrected," Olmert said.

Many Israelis want the government to appoint a State Commission of Inquiry. The Cabinet can decide what such a committee should investigate, but the president of the Supreme Court appoints its members. The committee has the right to summon witnesses and seize documents. Such committees have examined mishaps during the 1973 war and the Sabra and Shatilla massacre in Beirut in 1982.

Such committees have ended the careers of Cabinet ministers and very senior army officers and ruled that Ariel Sharon, who was defense minister in 1982, could no longer hold that position.

Now such a committee could determine that Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and others ought to quit and the government would have to adhere to its ruling.

Olmert, for example, might find it difficult to justify his decision to appoint Peretz, a trade unionist with no security background, as minister of defense. Olmert did so because Peretz, as head of the Labor Party, deserved a top ministerial post and Olmert wanted to control the Finance Ministry by having his own confidant as minister, so he gave Peretz the defense portfolio and seemed to jeopardize security.

Olmert's strategy says, roughly: Fellows, this is no time to fight over the past. We might be facing another much more dangerous war, so let's concentrate on preparing for it.

"The war has not come to a full stop... Soldiers are still in Lebanon, the fire (fighting) might resume, and the threat has not been removed completely. Beyond the horizon ... we must prepare for the Iranian threat and its president who hates Israel."

"We don't have the luxury to sink into years of investigating the past," he added. "I will not let the army be paralyzed for months and maybe more (by having a judicial investigation) ... in which many will get top notch lawyers to rebut accusations and possibly blame others."

Olmert therefore said his government would see to three investigations.

One will see the Cabinet appointing a committee to examine its conduct, decisions "and everything it will see fit to investigate."

Olmert nominated highly respectable people to that committee: Its chairman would be a former head of the Mossad spy agency, Nahum Admoni, and its members the Navy's former commander Yedidia Yaari; law Professor Ruth Gabison, who has been a candidate for the Supreme Court; and Professor Yehezkel Dror, a Hebrew University expert on public administration and policy making.

The defense establishment will see to "a thorough and in-depth investigation" to update its preparedness, combat doctrine and force structuring to cope with the expected threats.

Olmert said the Cabinet would also ask the State Controller to examine the faults in handling the home front.

Critics noted the committees do not include judges, so they will not have the power to compel people to testify, nor assure them that the evidence they give may not be used against them elsewhere.

No one will believe a committee selected by the people it investigates, maintained Israel Radio's legal commentator Moshe Negbi.

"The public must know that everything is done with clear hands," Minister Eitan Cabel of Labor said. Ami Ayalon, a former commander of the Navy and former head of the Shabak security agency who is now a Labor Knesset member, said that Israel is undergoing "a crisis of confidence" in the political system. That cannot be resolved with something less than a judicial commission of inquiry, he argued.

Several members of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, who have been demonstrating outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, have gone on a hunger strike. Their leader, attorney Eliad Shraga, said he believed public pressure would eventually force Olmert to appoint a commission of inquiry.

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