ISRAEL: Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak said yesterday he would not pull his Labor Party out of the governing coalition, enabling prime minister Ehud Olmert to retain his parliamentary majority.
Mr Barak, who said last year he would withdraw if Mr Olmert did not resign to take responsibility for mistakes during the 2006 Lebanon war, changed his mind following last week's final report on the conflict by Israel's Winograd Commission.
"I have decided to stay in the government," Mr Barak said on Israel Radio.
Mr Barak said he needed to remain in the Cabinet for now to help Mr Olmert address threats from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Iran. He also wanted to help the army repair deficiencies highlighted in the Winograd report, he said. Labor, with 19 seats in the Knesset, is the junior partner in the coalition led by Mr Olmert's Kadima Party, which holds 67 of 120 seats.