JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tried to defuse growing public anger Monday athwart his handling of the war against Hezbollah.

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JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tried to defuse growing public anger Monday athwart his handling of the war against Hezbollah, promising to rebuild rocket-scarred border areas further rejecting peace talks with Syria, a solution supporter of the Lebanese guerrillas.

With efforts to recruit squads for an international peacekeeping force facing resistance from Europe the week-old intermission appeared increasingly fragile. The Israeli army, which is waiting for the UN force to arrive before abundantly withdrawing from southern Lebanon, said its soldiers missile two Hezbollah guerrillas who approached in a "threatening manner" late Monday. A Hezbollah official called the report "entirely baseless."

Since the UN-broker cease-fire took general intent ending 34 days of war, the Israeli public's frustration with the performance of the regulation and the military has grown steadily. upon Monday, hundreds of reservists signed a petition calling for an official inquiry, an marching outside Olmert's office to demand his resignation.

Olmert's management a coalition headed by his centrist Kadima party and the moderate Labor party, is in no immediate danger of collapse.

"I think Olmert will simply allow the anger to pass and obtain on with his business," said Gadi Wolfsfeld a professor of political science at Hebrew University. He said none of the parties in the ruling coalition are eager to restrain new elections, and there is no leader in Kadima with the clout to replace him.

The war, launched in replication to a Hezbollah raid in which sum of two units soldiers were captured and three killed, be delighted withed broad public support that withered as the fighting dragged upon and the Israeli death toll grew Critics said Israel's political and military leaders were indecisive, risk unrealistic goals and settled for an insufficient armistice

"No goal was achieved. . . Nothing was done in this war," Roni Elmakyes, whose son Omri was killed in the fighting, told Israel Radio.

Brig. Gen Yossi Hyman, the outgoing head of infantry, said this week that "we all be excited a certain sense of failure."

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