Date:02/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/02/stories/2007050202321500.htm

International

Cracks in Olmert Cabinet

Jerusalem: Cracks began to appear in Israel government a day after a probe panel severely criticised Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over the handling of last year's war against Hezbollah with a Labour Party minister tendering his resignation on Tyuesday.

"[Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert is responsible for war's failures and must resign,'' Eitan Cabel, a Minister without portfolio, told reporters after he put in his papers to step up pressure on the Kadima Party leader who has vowed not to step down.

A defiant Olmert on Monday said he would not resign despite the publication of the Winograd report on the Second Lebanon War, which has accused him of ``severe failures'' in handling of the conflict.

— PTI