JERUSALEM — A day after an official investigative committee censured his conduct of last summer's war in Lebanon, the strain was evident on Ehud Olmert's face.
Pale and haggard, the Israeli prime minister appeared to nod off several times during Tuesday's swearing-in of a new police chief. His speech did not mention the war inquiry, but aides said he had been up all night studying its 171 pages of conclusions, which declared him responsible for a "serious failure" in rushing the military into battle unprepared.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday May 03, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Mideast peace talks: An article in Wednesday's Section A about Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said U.S. officials were pushing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to revive the peace talks that collapsed in 2007. The talks collapsed in 2000.
The harsh reprimand has thrown Israel into a leadership crisis. Fighting for his political survival, Olmert suffered the first cracks in his 13-month-old governing coalition Tuesday as one Cabinet minister resigned and a member of parliament from his centrist Kadima party joined Israelis across the political spectrum in demanding his resignation.
Other Kadima members were reported to be maneuvering behind the scenes in search of a replacement for the 61-year-old leader, in the hope of clinging to power without the need for an election.
It is uncertain whether the rising pressure will force him to step down, but political analysts say the already unpopular prime minister has been so discredited that his ability to govern effectively, negotiate peace or lead Israel in another war may have been damaged beyond repair.
"He has been doomed to continue to serve in a hostile public atmosphere, on borrowed time," Nahum Barnea, one of Israel's leading commentators, wrote in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot.
Olmert's broad-based coalition has been troubled from the start by splits over personalities and policies. Last summer's 34-day war broke out during his third month in office, and the army's failure to defeat Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon cost him the confidence of most Israelis, who say they feel more vulnerable to regional threats today than they did before.
Israeli officials say Hezbollah is replenishing its arsenal with the kind of rockets fired into northern Israel last summer. They also worry openly about a resumption of intense fighting with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is amassing weapons in the Gaza Strip. And Syrian officials, whose government supports Hezbollah and Hamas, have suggested recently that Israel's refusal to enter peace talks could lead to war.
