Amona evacuation
Photo: AP
Acting PM Olmert. Vows to annul commission
Photo: AP
The Knesset on Wednesday approved Chairman of the House Committee Daniel Benlolo's proposal to form a parliamentary commission of inquiry that will investigate the violent incidents that took place during the evacuation of the illegal outpost of Amona.
The proposal was backed by 34 Knesset members, and 21 voted against it.
While the approval of the proposal represents a triumph for right-wing elements in parliament, the commission itself may not last long after the elections.
"A day following the elections this commission will cease to exist. I will not allow for policemen and soldiers who were serving the law to be brought to trial," Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee earlier Wednesday.
Olmert said he deeply laments what happened in Amona, "especially the violence against security forces. The thought soldiers and police officers were referred to as 'Nazis' shocks me each time I think about it."
"The cinder blocks (thrown at security forces) were prepared in advance, before even one policeman arrived at the place. The Right is attempting to earn political gains on the expense of the police. The premeditated violence is unforgivable," Olmert stated.
Right triumphant
Meanwhile, MK Gideon Saar remarked on Likud's accomplishment in the vote, and said, "Olmert's left-wing coalition that includes Kadima, Labor, Meretz and the Arab parties, was defeated by the national coalition headed by Likud."
Saar stressed the decision to form a commission of inquiry was "an important achievement for the Knesset that preserved the principle of parliamentary supervision over the government, after the latter refused to initiate an investigation on the Amona affair."
MK Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the Knesset's decision "attests to the hard feelings in the public in wake of the large number of casualties in the evacuation, and to the heavy doubts regarding the process of decision making and their implementation."