Labor Party Chairman and Defense Minister Amir Peretz is sticking to his message that he has no intention of leaving the Defense Ministry and is suited to the post.

"If I have reached one clear conclusion from my nine months in the job, it is that my civilian background is a plus and not a minus," Peretz told local authority heads at a conference of the Union of Local Governments in Tel Aviv on Thursday. "I see myself as a social welfare oriented defense minister."

Peretz said that he "listens to the professionals, military commanders, intelligence directors and other functionaries, whose professional knowledge is priceless. But after I hear them, I must consider and make decisions in my capacity as defense minister, to the best of my judgment. The responsibility is mine."

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The defense minister said that the recent peace signals coming from the direction of Syria should be listened to carefully, "just as we must be ready for threats of war and the cultivation of a military option by the Syrian side."

Since the conviction on Wednesday of MK Haim Ramon, coalition members have been readying themselves for a cabinet reshuffle that could include moving Peretz from the Defense Ministry into a socioeconomic ministry. But associates of Peretz insist that he is not going anywhere, and that he views himself as the right person to lead the country's military establishment at this point in time. They also expressed confidence that the interim conclusions of the Winograd Committee, which is investigating last summer's war, will show that he performed well during the Lebanese conflict, and that in any case, "his responsibility was less than that of [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert."