The Jerusalem Post declares that survival is now the name of the political game. With opinion polls underlining the firm public sense that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should have tendered his resignation over his mishandling of the Second Lebanon War, Ehud Barak's decision to stay put, allied with Tzipi Livni's silence in the face of the final Winograd Report, underlines the corrosive spread of the new, devalued political norms. Dangerously, these declining norms are in turn exacerbating the political listlessness and alienation that have overwhelmed the Israeli public.

Yediot Aharonot characterizes Defense Minister Ehud Barak as a chronic procrastinator, both in action and in comprehension, who waited until the last moment to decide to remain in the Government.  The editors doubt if he could have decided otherwise.  Now, says the paper, "The time has come for him decide where he is going."

Ma'ariv warns that, "We are being fooled…Our presence in Gaza, so they told us, prevents Kassam [fire].  Then they told us: Evacuation will prevent the firing.  And now they're telling us – only invasion will prevent Kassams."  

Makor Rishon-Hatzofeh refers to Defense Minister Ehud Barak's political adversaries' claim that the Labor Party leader changed his mind about leaving the coalition due to his desire to "continue in his position as Defense Minister in the failing Olmert Government."

[Nahum Barnea and Kobi Niv wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot and Ma'ariv, respectively. Haaretz was unavailable today]

Three papers discuss the Winograd Committee report:

Yediot Aharonot believes that "In the absence of the clear assignment of responsibility by the Committee, everyone touched by the affair is free to 'acquit' himself and 'convict' others as he sees fit."  The editors suggest that "The Committee report, therefore, misses the point – determining facts, responsibility, and the responsible parties – and spends too much time on the unnecessary.  The result: A very perplexed and angry public that does not know who bears the responsibility and who to get angry at."

Ma'ariv asserts that "The Committee itself is a symptom of flight from responsibility.  Instead of revealing responsibility and drawing personal conclusions, the Committee threw its (confusing and contradictory) conclusions to the public…What it says – or not – will serve the politicians.  Therefore, in order to faithfully discharge its position, it should have issued rulings, not a report."

Haaretz asks "Who will rebuild the IDF?" in light of the recently published Winograd report, which diagnosed a wide array of flaws and breakdowns in the military force that was at the state's disposal in the summer of 2006. The editor answers by stating that in order to rehabilitate and rebuild the IDF and prepare it for future tests, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi - with encouragement from the defense minister, the government and Israel's entire society - must learn to unload old baggage and put together the most professional and ethically minded team possible, comprised of generals who were discharged from the service before their time in recent years. 

======================

The Jerusalem Post discusses PM Olmert's apparent turnabout regarding residential building in Jerusalem, on land held by Israel since 1967. The editor claims that it is plain that this government, like all its predecessors, has failed to come up with a blueprint for vital settlement construction, follow it, and explain the logic to the international community. With settlement, as with so many other areas of policy, the government's only aspiration seems to be survival. And if survival means capitulating to American pressure one day, and pressure from the champions of the illegal outposts the next, so be it. The terrible consequence, of course, is the sacrificing of crucial Israeli interests along the way.

[Dov Weisglass and Ran Beretz wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot and Ma'ariv, respectively.]