Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed not to quit in the wake of blistering report into the failings of the Israeli-Hizballah war last summer, even as cracks appeared in his government on Tuesday and people from across the political spectrum demanded that he resign.

The findings of the Winograd Committee, which investigated the 34-day war, were much tougher than had been anticipated. The report said there were "very serious failings" in the decision-making process that led to the war's start.

The committee placed ultimate responsibility for the decisions on Olmert and sa id he had made up his mind "hastily, despite the fact that no detailed military plan was submitted to him and without asking for one."

Olmert admitted in a brief television appearance following the release of the report that its main points were "grave and harsh," but he said it would be "incorrect" to resign and he did not intend to do so.

He said the mistakes must be corrected by the government that made them, and he said he would convene a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday to begin to implement the necessary changes.

But politicians from across the political spectrum called for Olmert's resignation. Even unnamed officials from his own Kadima party were quoted in local press reports as saying that he could not remain in power.

On Tuesday, Eitan Cabel, a junior minister from the Labor Party of Defense Minister Amir Peretz, said he could no longer remain in the government. He's the first to resign as a result of the Winograd Committee's report.

"Ehud Olmert is responsible for the war's failures and must resign," Cabel told a press conference. "The public has lost its faith in the prime minister. I cannot sit in a government with Olmert at its head."

Cabel said he hoped his resignation would start a chain reaction that would eventually include Olmert's resignation.

Editorials in Israeli newspapers also called for the resignation of the prime minister.

It would be a mistake for Olmert to stay in power, the English language Jerusalem Post said. "He cannot go on. A conscientious, thorough inquiry has catalogued his failure, and its consequences. His tenure from hereon will be a losing rearguard action, a prime ministership on borrowed time."

"The Winograd Report contains not even one lenient word to which the prime minister could cling in order to extend his term," the Israeli daily Ha'aretz said in its editorial.

"The colossal failure that has already been identified in their functioning, even before the entire war has been analyzed, does not permit Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz to remain in their posts for even one more day," it said.

The report analyzed the period from Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 through the first five days of the 2006 war. A full report is due out this summer.

The report also placed blame on Defense Minster Peretz and then army chief Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz.

Peretz, the report said, lacked knowledge and experience in military, political and government matters and despite that did not consult with experts. Halutz, who resigned under pressure in January, was unprepared for the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers in the cross-border attack and reacted "impulsively" when it did occur.

Israelis were largely angered and disappointed by the outcome of the war, which many said Israel lost because it failed to defeat Hizballah.

Olmert claimed that Israel had won some victories since it succeeded in pushing Hizballah away from Israel's border and installing an international peacekeeping force there.

The first full-fledged protest is planned for Thursday evening in Tel Aviv under the motto of "Olmert and Peretz, go home."

If Olmert resigns and his Kadima party manages to hold the various parties in the government together, they would likely replace him with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. All eyes are on her.

But if the government collapses and new elections are held, former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is likely to win and form the next government. The leftwing is interested in preventing that from happening and therefore could be more interested in propping up the Olmert government, regardless of how bad it is.

Uri Dromi of the Israel Democracy Institute said he did not believe that Olmert should resign because he was elected by the public and should serve out his term. Dromi said no leader can be without mistakes.

Dromi said he believed that Olmert was clever enough to implement the lessons from the war, particularly if he had a new defense minister who was militarily savvy, and a new chief of staff, which he already has.

Nevertheless, Dromi said in a telephone interview that allegations of corruption against Olmert combined with this report could be enough to bring him down. The last thing Israel needs right now is new elections, he said.

The White House also appeared to throw its support behind Olmert. White House spokesman Tony Snow said that President Bush works very closely with Olmert and thinks he is "essential in working toward a two-state solution."

Bush remains committed to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But Snow added that the White House would not comment on "internal investigations within the Israeli government."

Political upheaval in Israel (or the Palestinian Authority) is not good for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process, which is at a standstill anyway. But it's not clear what impact a resignation would have on attempts to get the two sides back to the negotiating table.

In Arab reaction to the report, the London-based newspaper Al Quds Al Arabiyeh said that Olmert did not fail in the war except for the fact that Hizballah won, Israel Radio reported. The Islamic resistance in Lebanon proved that it is possible to defeat the Israeli army with "force, will and faith," the paper said.

Hizballah rejoiced at the release of the report. A senior Hizballah political officer in Lebanon, Sheikh Hassan Ezzedine, was quoted as saying that the report "confirmed the inability of the Israeli political and military leadership to...confront Hizballah."

Hizballah launched mortar and rocket attacks at the Israeli border as a diversion to abduct Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack in July, seizing two soldiers and killing three others.

During the war, the Iranian-backed Islamic group fired some 4,000 rockets and missiles at northern Israeli communities. More than 1,000 Lebanese were killed during the war and 119 Israeli soldiers and 39 civilians were also killed.