Call for Olmert to step down

Ehud Olmert's main coalition partner demanded yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister leave office over corruption allegations.

Mr Olmert made clear through his aides that he was staying on. The furore surrounding the unpopular premier threatens to derail peace talks with the Palestinians.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak issued the call - and raised the prospect of an early election - a day after a US businessman told an Israeli court how he had handed Mr Olmert envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in cash.

"I do not think the Prime Minister can simultaneously run the government and deal with his own personal affair," said Mr Barak, a former Prime Minister whose Labour party is Mr Olmert's biggest partner in a fragile coalition government.

"Therefore, out of a sense of what is good for the country and in accordance with the proper norms, I think the Prime Minister must detach himself from the day-to-day running of the government," Mr Barak told a news conference.

Mr Olmert has denied wrongdoing in the case and his strategic adviser, Tal Silberstein, said the premier was staying.

"The Prime Minister was not considering resigning, nor taking a leave of absence, nor any of the other suggestions raised at that press conference (by Barak)," he said.