JERUSALEM, 3 May 2007 — Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to quit but he brushed aside calls from her and other leading figures yesterday, acknowledging he was in a difficult position but vowing to fix his mistakes.

Olmert won a critical show of support from lawmakers within his ruling Kadima party — and forced the bloc’s parliamentary head to quit — two days after an official report blamed Olmert for “serious failures” in handling a war last year in Lebanon.

“The prime minister enjoyed unprecedented support here,” Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said after three hours of intensive argument among the 29-strong parliamentary caucus.

The Kadima lawmakers had decided to “strengthen the coalition in order to maintain stability in the regime,” Israeli media said, with some declaring Olmert the victor in a showdown with the party’s deputy leader Tzipi Livni.

Just two hours earlier, Livni had convened a news conference to reveal she had urged Olmert to quit and that she wanted his job. “I told the prime minister that I thought to resign was the right thing to do,” she told a riveted television audience.

But meeting lawmakers of the centrist party, Olmert, as quoted by a senior official, said: “I am in a personally uncomfortable position, but I will not shirk my responsibility and will fix all the mistakes.” Kadima’s parliamentary leader Avigdor Yitzhaki resigned in protest when Olmert rejected his call to step down.

Under Kadima’s rules, Olmert cannot be ousted. The only course of action is to persuade him to resign or to hold a primary which would take time to organize. Parliament could force Olmert out through a no-confidence vote but there does not yet appear to be a majority to do so.

At an emergency Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, where ministers voted to oversee implementation of changes recommended by the commission, Olmert acknowledged personal failings. But he said: “I suggest that all those who are in a hurry to take advantage of this report and make political gain — slow down.” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped the turmoil in Israel would not set back efforts to restart peace talks.

The two frontrunners to replace Olmert are Livni, 48, and Peres, 83.

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the rightist Likud party, a favorite in opinion polls, could also pose a challenge if Olmert’s government is toppled.

Some in Kadima, and among key coalition partners, such as the Labor party, have suggested they were sticking by Olmert out of concern of losing significant parliamentary clout if a revolt against him were to bring an early national election.

Kadima was founded only in 2005 by Ariel Sharon who, as prime minister, broke from Likud over his decision to withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza. Olmert, also once in Likud, took over when Sharon was felled by a stroke in January last year.