Associates of Defense Minister Amir Peretz are urging him not to give in to public criticism and resign his post, warning that to do so would mean the end of his political career.

Peretz received this advice at a late-night meeting on Thursday, which was first revealed by Channel 2 television. The meeting, which Peretz called, was attended by Education Minister Yuli Tamir, MKs Yoram Marciano and Shelly Yachimovich, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, former MK Haggai Merom and businessman Benny Gaon.

That same day, other senior Labor officials told Haaretz they believed that Peretz would eventually be forced to bow to public pressure and resign.

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Even before Thursday's meeting, Peretz had repeatedly and publicly declared that he has no intention of leaving the Defense Ministry. His associates said that despite this, he would be willing to do so in exchange for the Finance Ministry, but associates of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have said that Olmert would not consent to such a trade.

At the meeting, Peretz's associates told him that several Labor Party ministers, including Isaac Herzog, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Eitan Cabel, are cooperating with Olmert's people in an effort to force Peretz out of the Defense Ministry. Peretz responded that he has no intention of leaving, unless the Winograd Committee, which is investigating the second Lebanon war, finds him responsible for its failures - which, he said, he is confident will not happen.

However, he added, if he is forced out, the entire government leadership, including Olmert, will go with him. His associates understood from this that Peretz believes his ouster would lead Labor to leave the coalition, thereby leaving Olmert with a minority government.

Olmert is widely expected to step up his efforts to bring United Torah Judaism into the coalition in the near future, in order to ensure that he has a majority even without Labor.

Peretz called the meeting in an effort to show that he still has support among his party's senior ranks. He plans to follow it up with a political rally this week and further intensive political activity in the coming weeks.

But despite their support for his remaining in the Defense Ministry, his associates were harshly critical of Peretz's conduct, and several slammed him for having left them out of the loop until now.