Olmert rejects Syria talks, deflects soldiers' criticism

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday ruled out peace negotiations with Syria and rejected criticisms of the Lebanon war as reserve soldiers expanded their protests over the government's handling of the conflict.

"We don't have a lot of time to talk about what happened. We have to talk about what will happen," Olmert said. His government has faced growing criticism and calls for investigations into the conduct of the 33-day conflict.

More than 100 protesters, many of them Israeli reservists, staged a demonstration Monday in Jerusalem over shortfalls in the army operation. Another group of paratroops addressed an open letter in the Haaretz newspaper to Olmert, complaining about indecisiveness in the military's top ranks. Hundreds of soldiers signed the letter.

"I won't be part of this game of self-flagellation," Olmert responded as he toured Kiryat Shemona, a northern border town hit repeatedly by Hezbollah rockets during the war.

Olmert suggested that he does not want a formal judicial inquiry, which the Knesset, Israel's parliament, is demanding. Defense Minister Amir Peretz has reportedly appointed an investigating committee to review the war, but various political leaders are calling for an outside, independent commission of inquiry.

"What are we going to do now?" Olmert said. "Stand them in a line and give them a slap on the face? Try them? Put them in front of commissions of inquiry each and every day, so they won't be able to properly assess the next conflict?"

Many complaints have been directed at Olmert and Peretz for a war plan that critics say was disorganized and relied too heavily on intensive air bombing in Lebanon. Reserve soldiers returned from the war also have complained of disorganization in the officer ranks and missing supplies.

The letter from the reservists argued that policymakers got "cold feet" and left soldiers in the field, directionless. Since the cease-fire began a week ago, soldiers have given accounts of orders that were unclear or contradicted, of operations postponed and of having to forage for food, water and equipment.

Olmert also defended his foreign policy in response to suggestions by critics and his political allies that a shift in tactics is needed.

In Olmert's Cabinet, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Monday that Israel ought to restart negotiations with Syria that ended in 2000. Since the fighting in Lebanon, there has been increasing public debate over whether a better course would be to seek a deal with Syria that would bring peace to the border and help isolate Iran.

"What we did with Egypt and Jordan is also legitimate in this case," Dichter said in an interview with Israel's Army Radio, referring to peace agreements reached with those Arab countries. A peace deal with Syria would involve Syria's demands for a return of the Golan Heights, which it lost in 1967.

"Before we negotiate with Syria, they should stop financing terror," Olmert said on his tour of the north.

He went on, referring to the Syrian president and the militant Islamic group now in charge of Palestinian ministries. "Before we negotiate with Bashar Assad, let him stop launching missiles by means of Hezbollah onto the heads of innocent Israelis. And before we sit down to negotiate, let them stop funding Hamas murder, sabotage and terror," he said.

Meanwhile, U.N. diplomats worked behind the scenes Monday to secure troops for an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon as President Bush announced the U.S. would introduce a resolution clarifying how those troops would interact with Hezbollah fighters.

"There will be another resolution coming out of the United Nations giving further instructions to the international force. First things first is to get the rules of engagement clear, so that the force will be robust to help the Lebanese," Bush said in Washington, where he also pledged $230 million in aid for Lebanon.

But French and American diplomats at the U.N. warned that countries should not wait for a resolution before offering much-needed soldiers to shore up the fragile, week-old truce.

Information from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.