On Tuesday, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz submitted his resignation to Defense Minister Amir Peretz. The resignation came two weeks after the 58-year-old Halutz said he would not resign unless the government demanded it.

"Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, has sent a letter of resignation to the prime minister and the minister of defense," a military statement said on Wednesday according to a Middle East Newsline report. "The chief of staff has clarified that his responsibility as a commander and as the head of the Israel Defense Forces staff are what led him to remain in duty until the investigations are completed, and the 2007 work plan is oriented around the lessons learned."

"Now that this process has completed, the chief of staff has asked to resign immediately," the statement added.

"We face many missions and challenges, as our soldiers and commanders continue their mission to protect and defend the citizens of Israel," Halutz was quoted as saying. "I have no intension of packing up my desk and leaving in a rush. I intend to ensure an orderly transition for my replacement."

Military sources said the leading candidate to replace Halutz was [Res.] Maj. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, former deputy chief of staff and now the director-general of the Defense Ministry. On Tuesday, Ashkenazi canceled a scheduled appearance at a Tel Aviv University seminar on the ground forces for an emergency meeting with Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

"Peretz wants Ashkenazi, and at this point it appears there will not be any objections," a source said.

Another contender to become chief of staff was identified as Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz, currently the chief of the Ground Forces Command. Gantz also served as head of Northern Command, responsible for the border with Lebanon, and was expected to become Ashkenazi's deputy.

"The future [of the military] is in the balance of force-building and the operation of the force," Gantz said. "We need to work with innovation. We must do as much as possible to shorten the [future] war."

Hours before his resignation, Halutz came under scathing criticism from a parliamentary report that investigated Israel's 34-day war against Hizbullah in July and August 2006. The report, authored by former Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron, asserted that the military failed to fulfill the government order to halt Hizbullah rocket fire into Israel.

"The war was run without a goal," Shomron said in an appearance before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "The prime minister instructed the army to halt rocket fire against Israel. But the army failed to translate this into a military objective."

Shomron said Halutz refused to distribute the report, rather allowed members of the General Staff to read key findings and then return the document. Shomron did not elaborate.

In October 2006, the Knesset panel appointed Shomron to investigate the Israeli war in Lebanon. The government appointed a separate panel to investigate the war, and its findings were expected to be released later this month.

"There are deficiencies regarding national security, both in the political leadership as well as in the military brass," parliamentarian Yuval Steinitz, former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said. "As a result, they did not understand that firing on millions of Israelis meant war, rather than a border skirmish."

Military and government sources said Halutz's resignation marked the end of an attempt to focus the military's efforts toward Iran. They said then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had justified his decision to appoint Halutz as required for any Israeli air strike against Iran's nuclear weapons facilities.

"Halutz's appointment by Sharon was political — when he needed somebody who would implement the Disengagement [Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in 200]," a government source said. "Sharon used the Iran argument as a cover."

The source said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, under police investigation for corruption, urged Halutz to remain in his post. The source said that 48 hours later, Halutz met Peretz, who immediately accepted Halutz's resignation. Both Olmert and Peretz have been under increasing pressure to resign in wake of the war in Lebanon.

Effie Eitam, a reserve brigadier general and a senior member of the parliamentary committee, said Halutz was an excellent soldier and commander. But Eitam said Halutz, who became chief of staff in 2005 without army experience, was incapable of leading a war.

"He was a person that was swept into a war that was way above his capabilities," Eitam said. "His resignation could not be prevented. There was a loss of confidence in the military leadership."

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