Under fire over war, Olmert concedes he is unpopular

By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged on Thursday that he was an increasingly unpopular leader but brushed aside calls by critics that he step down over his handling of last year's Lebanon war.

A committee investigating the war said earlier this week it would issue interim findings in April that will draw conclusions about Olmert's performance.

Analysts say a highly critical report could trigger resignations or spur public demands for early elections.

"I'm an unpopular prime minister, the polls say so ... I think they are right, I am indeed an unpopular prime minister," Olmert told a meeting of his centrist Kadima party.

He acknowledged that both his right-wing rivals, led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, and even members of his own party were focused with his sharp drop in the polls.

"Even though some think this is hunting season. I am sorry to disappoint my detractors, but I am here to work," Olmert said in comments suggesting he had no intention of stepping down despite the pressure.

Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and military top brass have seen their popularity plummet after Israel failed to crush Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group in the 34-day campaign that ended in a U.N.-brokered ceasefire.

Olmert and Peretz, scrambling to offset a groundswell of support for their right-wing rivals, have said the war drove Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah away from the Israeli border and made way for a bolstered U.N. peacekeeping force.

"I know how an incumbent prime minister can become popular, there are tens of ways," Olmert said, describing himself as a "veteran political warrior" who knows how to judge his standing.

Olmert acknowledged that he might be "much more popular" today if he had heeded calls of analysts and former generals to launch a swift ground offensive after Hezbollah abducted two soldiers in a July 12 border raid. But he said on Thursday that doing so would have endangered Israeli soldiers.

After the Hezbollah border raid, Israel at first relied on air and artillery shelling, causing a large number of Lebanese casualties but hardly denting the guerrilla group's ability to fire short-range rockets into the Jewish state.

Olmert said his falling popularity might also be arrested if he had "caved into pressure" to increase public spending and had launched a public relations campaign in response to a series of political corruption allegations.

The government-appointed Winograd Commission of inquiry said its interim report will focus on the decision to go to war. It will also deal with the first five days of fighting, leaving the rest to be discussed in the committee's final conclusions.

Israel's wartime armed forces chief, Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, has already stepped down along with two other generals.

The fighting killed 117 Israeli soldiers and 41 civilians and some 1,200 people in Lebanon, including an estimated 270 guerrillas from Hezbollah and other factions.