Why Amir Peretz should not be fired as Defence minister

A while ago, I wrote a post condemning Amir Peretz and his actions since entering government. Recently, there have been stories suggesting that Ehud Olmert is on the verge of asking his Defence Minister to resign. Whilst I feel that he should never have taken the position, he's there now and I wouldn't want to see him fired - at least not until after the Labor Party primaries. If Peretz were forced out, he would take the Labor Party and its 19 MKs with it. This would undoubtedly result in the complete collapse of the government. Now if there was a chance that Labor, Meretz and Kadima might be able to form a government (with maybe the Pensioner's Party), led by Labor, then I would support the end of Ehud Olmert's prime-ministership. However, all polls indicate that the majority of Israeli voters would not vote fo Kadima nor an Amir Peretz-led Labor, but Netanyahu's Likud. This would probably result in a Likud-Yisrael Beitenu right-wing government, the expansion of settlements and the resumption of military attacks on anyone that gives them as much as a dirty look. So for the moment, an Israeli government that at least talks about peace is better than nothing.