Peretz wants Finance Ministry if reelected

Labor leader says ready to step down as defense minister and take finance portfolio if reelected as party head in May primaries, adds he wanted finance ministry after last year's elections

Attila Somfalvi|Published: 03.27.07 , 20:21

Labor leader Amir Peretz said Tuesday that he would step down as defense minister in return for the finance portfolio should he be reelected as Labor head in the May primaries.

“On May 28, the night I am reelected as party chairman, I want to tell Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that I intend on revising the coalition agreement and demand the finance portfolio,” he told his supporters at a special Passover gathering in Tel Aviv.

Peretz denied media reports that he had insisted on having the defense portfolio during coalition negotiations with Kadima after last year's general elections, saying he had wanted the finance ministry.

"You don't know how much I wanted to be the finance minister. You don't know which effort we put in negotiations. When things didn't fall through I agreed to fill the most important post, that of defense minister," Peretz said, drawing applauds from his supporters.

Turning his attention to the race for the party's leadership, Peretz said that his challengers were equally responsible for the army's "spiritual decline."

Although Peretz fell short of making a clear allusion to either of his main challengers – former prime minister Ehud Barak and MK Ami Ayalon – it was clear that he was referring to Barak under whose term of office Israel withdrew its army from south Lebanon.

'Israel has no choice'

The withdrawal prompted Hizbullah to declare victory over the Israel Defense Forces and opened the door for the Iranian-backed group to strengthen its weapons arsenal and beef up its military presence along the border.

Peretz has been subjected to harsh criticism for the army's poor performance during last summer's war with Hizbullah.

He defended his decision to take the defense portfolio, saying he did so for the sake of political stability --- a key demand of Israeli voters, he added.

Turning his attention to the conflict with the Palestinians, Peretz said Israel has no choice but to reach a permanent settlement with "our neighbors."

Opinion polls conducted after last year's general elections showed that Peretz's popularity among Israeli voters had declined over his failure to deliver on his election promise to roll back public spending cuts and strengthen the welfare system.

Peretz fired back at critics of his performance as defense minister, lamenting that the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier near the Gaza Strip by Hamas gunmen in June 25 last year took place only 50 days after he assumed his ministerial duties.