Outgoing Israeli army chief promises 'orderly transition'

Israel’s outgoing army chief today promised an “orderly transition” for his successor, the army said.

Lt Gen Dan Halutz made the statements in an address to senior officers.

Hours earlier, Halutz announced his resignation, yielding to calls for him to step down after last summer’s war in Lebanon.

“We face many missions and challenges, as our soldiers and commanders continue their mission to protect and defend the citizens of Israel,” Halutz said, according to an army statement.

“I have no intention of packing up my desk and leaving in a rush. I intend to ensure an orderly transition for my replacement.”

Halutz’s decision to step aside increased the pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz, whose roles during Israel’s largest military operation since 1982 have also been assailed.

Halutz stepped down at the end of an already turbulent day for Olmert.

Hours earlier, the Justice Ministry ordered police to launch a criminal investigation into his conduct in the sale of Israel’s second-largest bank before he became prime minister last year.

Troops, bereaved families and even members of Israel’s tightly knit military elite have been calling for Halutz’s head ever since the war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas ended on August 14.

Israel launched the full-scale assault just hours after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a July 12 cross-border raid.

The country went into the war as a united front against Hezbollah, but that solidarity collapsed after the fighting ended without the guerrillas being crushed or the captured soldiers recovered.

More than 1,000 people were killed on both sides, most in Lebanon, according to the UN, Israeli and Lebanese officials. Israel claims it killed 600 guerrillas, but that number has not been substantiated, and Lebanon says most of its casualties were civilians.

Northern Israel, meanwhile, was nearly paralysed by the nearly 4,000 rockets fired from Lebanon during the fighting, and 159 Israelis were killed, including 39 civilians who died in rocket attacks.

Criticism of the military’s preparation and tactics swelled after the battles ended without a clear-cut Israeli victory.

Questions about the wisdom of 11th-hour battles and reports of food and water shortages fuelled demands for inquiries into the war’s conduct and the resignation of Israel’s wartime leaders.

Halutz had acknowledged the shortcomings, but had earlier resisted pressure to resign.

The military said today that Halutz decided to step aside now that dozens of military inquiries into various aspects of the war had been concluded. “Now that this process has been completed, the chief of staff has asked to resign immediately,” the military said in a brief statement.

None of the inquiries concluded he should quit or be dismissed.

But Army Radio reported that Halutz said in the letter that he was taking responsibility for the outcome of the war.

“For me the concept of responsibility is everything,” Halutz wrote, according to Army Radio.

Both Olmert and Peretz have to accept the resignation before it can go into effect, the military said.

Halutz is not the first military chief to have his tenure abruptly end. Lt. Gen. David Elazar was fired in 1974 after the surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria that launched the 1973 Mideast war.

Halutz resigned before a government-appointed panel, which has the power to call on him to step aside, issued its findings on the war.

Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, who was dispatched to the Lebanon front to assume command during the war, told Israel TV last week that he would be a candidate for chief of staff after Halutz leaves. Kaplinski is currently serving as deputy chief of staff.

Another candidate is Maj. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who has served in several command positions.

The war has cost two other generals their jobs – the commander in charge of the unit attacked in the July 12 raid, and the head of the army’s northern command during the war.

Halutz also fired a third general who publicly criticised the war and government policy.

Halutz was Israel’s military chief for less than two years, having assumed the post on June 1, 2005. He was the first air force chief to have commanded the entire military.

He was a controversial figure in some quarters even before he took over as chief of staff. Complaints have been filed against him abroad in connection with his decision, as air force commander, to drop a one-ton bomb on a Gaza Strip home in a 2002 airstrike that killed a Palestinian militant leader and 14 others, including nine children.