Winograd-Abdul Rahim

Two events took place within one month of each other. In the 13th June 2007, Hamas took over the Gaza strip in an unprecedented coup in the PA. On the 12th of July 2007, Israel started a full fledged war against Lebanon, which has failed miserably. In both cases the governments of the PA and Israel, respectively, commissioned an investigation into the factors and actors that played a role in both events.
The Palestinians appointed Tayeb Abdul Rahim, a close aid of Abbas, who received a BA in commerce which he never used from Azhar University in Cairo back in 1967. Obviously he cannot be considered an unbiased evaluator, but lets put that aside. The man issued a report, within one and a half months of the incident, which is a de facto secession, without visiting the area under question. He told us what we already knew, the the security forces were corrupt, unprofessional and the recruitment sucked. The report remained secret, bar for a short statement void of any original content, although it is in the interest of every Palestinian to know what it is in it.
Elyahu Winograd, holds a Phd in Law, Former acting supreme court member, and president of Tel-Aviv District Court, headed the second commission. Excellent Choice for a commission head!
9 months after the war, and 7 month after the appointment his commission issues a preliminary report and takes a further 9 months before issuing the full report, yesterday. The report did not fear criticising the leadership of the world's fifth strongest army, and laid blame virtually on the whole government. Its findings are made public, and the press tackled their every aspect.
The difference between the two, is the same difference between one side which really wanted to know the truth about what has happened, and another which preferred to keep it hidden.
The consequences are the same, people who took responsibility for their actions, quit the IDF, a defence minister who was ousted by his party (remember Amir Peretz? that's partly why he lost Labour's leadership). On our side... well, nothing has changed, nothing ever will until the guys at the top learn what it means to play with people's destinies.