JERUSALEM, Sept 1: Cracks emerged on Friday in Israel’s coalition government over the Lebanon war, as Defence Minister Amir Peretz called for a full-scale inquiry, putting himself at odds with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

“I have come to the conclusion that, to guarantee the fairness of an inquiry, its transparency and to ensure public trust, a real state commission should be created,” declared Mr Peretz after talks with MPs from his Labour party.

Legislators in the centre-left party, Mr Olmert’s main coalition partner, gathered to discuss the budget, but the focus switched to a state commission, Israel’s most authoritative type of inquiry, to examine failures of the 34-day war.

Most of Labour’s 19 MPs have already called for a state commission rather than the more limited public inquiry ordered by Mr Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party won a narrow election victory in March polls.

Mr Olmert’s decision, unveiled in a televised address that stressed the successes of the war, has been heavily criticised from both the left and right.

But Mr Peretz is now publicly at odds with Mr Olmert, who has flatly rejected any question of muck-raking at a state commission level, leaving aides to leak their annoyance to the press under the shield of anonymity.

“Peretz continues to duck his responsibilities, just like he has done since the end of fighting in Lebanon. Politically speaking, his behaviour is contemptible,” the Yediot Aharonot daily quoted one Olmert aide as saying.

The spat made headlines in the country’s two biggest selling newspapers, Yediot and the tabloid-style Maariv. “Olmert’s Aides: Peretz Has Lost His Mind” and “Olmert’s Aides: Peretz’s Behaviour Dumb” they cried, respectively.

Mr Peretz initially opposed a state commission until he came under pressure from left-leaning circles in his own party, and was accused of ‘zigzagging’ by Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer in the MPs’ meeting.

Nevertheless, his change of heart has little concrete significance on Mr Olmert’s four-month-old coalition government for the moment.

A cabinet vote on Wednesday on Mr Olmert’s decision for a more modest three public inquiries is still expected to pass with 21 ministers in favour to only four Labour ministers, including Mr Peretz, against.

A massive 74 percent of the public also believe the defence minister, a man whose previous military experience was limited to national service, should step down over the war, according to one recent opinion poll.

But neither is the horizon untroubled for the premier, with top public watchdog Micha Lindenstrauss examining how he might have benefited from a huge discount on a luxury apartment he and his wife Aliza bought in Jerusalem.

“A possible scenario is that the comptroller’s findings will implicate Olmert even further. In that case it will be possible to expect the selection of a new prime minister on behalf of Kadima, new break-ups and alignments in the current Knesset and new elections,” wrote the Haaretz newspaper.

Israel’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Dan Halutz, has also come under stinging criticism over his handling of the war from senior reserve officers and foot soldiers.

The charges include over-reliance on air power at the start of the campaign, indecisiveness, confusing orders, lack of preparation and shortages of food and water for some troops.

Former chief of staff, Moshe Yaalon, who is now jostling for a political career, has joined clamouring that Gen Halutz,

Mr Olmert and Mr Peretz resign.—AFP