JERUSALEM (AP) – President Katsav, facing charges of rape and abuse of power, asked parliament Wednesday to temporarily remove him from office in an effort to blunt growing calls for his resignation, including one from the prime minister.

At a stormy, emotional news conference at his official residence, Mr. Katsav blamed Israeli media for his plight, using terms like “witch hunt,” “McCarthyism” and “persecution.” He shouted at a local TV reporter, pounding on the podium and gesturing angrily during a rambling diatribe that lasted nearly an hour.

The president has been under intense pressure to quit since Attorney-General Meni Mazuz notified him Tuesday that he planned to indict him after a monthslong investigation into allegations by four women who worked for him. The charges include rape, abuse of power and sexual assault.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Olmert, who is under criminal investigation in an unrelated case, also called for Mr. Katsav’s resignation.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the president cannot continue to fulfill his position and he must leave the president’s residence,” Mr. Olmert said at the beginning of a policy speech at a security conference.

Mr. Katsav said he was not legally obligated to resign, but he pledged to step aside if he is indicted. “I will not stay in this house for one more second. I will resign,” he said.

The president’s resignation would deprive him of the immunity he enjoys while in office.

On Wednesday, he asked parliament’s House Committee to grant his request for a leave of absence that could last up to three months. The panel will meet Thursday to discuss the request, according to parliamentary spokesman Giora Pordes.

The 61-year-old Mr. Katsav has insisted he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Mr. Mazuz said that before officially pressing charges, he would give the president an opportunity to plead his case.

Legal authorities have said the charges could carry a sentence of more than 20 years in jail.

Lawmakers and Cabinet officials urged Katsav to give up his fight to stay in office, saying the scandal was tarnishing the presidency.

While Mr. Katsav is innocent until proven guilty, “he should not be waging the battle to prove his innocence from the president’s office,” Foreign Minister Livni, who also serves as justice minister, said in a statement.

Minister of Public Security Avi Dichter also urged Mr. Katsav to step down, saying he “must not cling to the post, not even for a few months.”

Dozens of lawmakers, meanwhile, set an impeachment process in motion, mustering enough signatures for parliament to convene a debate on removing the president.

“If the president doesn’t announce his resignation tonight, we will launch impeachment proceedings,” lawmaker Zehava Galon said.

Stepping aside temporarily would not be enough to end the impeachment push, Galon’s spokeswoman Idit Shabtay-Sidis said. Impeachment would require the support of 90 of parliament’s 120 legislators.

No sitting Israeli president has ever been charged with a crime. But the Israeli public has grown accustomed to the spectacle of politicians being put on trial or tainted by corruption allegations. One former Cabinet minister is currently being tried in a separate sexual misconduct case, and corruption allegations have reached as high as Mr. Olmert, now under investigation for his involvement in the sale of a government-controlled bank.

The office of president was once filled by Zionist legends and revered statesmen, but has lost esteem in recent years.

Mr. Katsav’s predecessor, the outspoken war hero turned peacemaker Ezer Weizman, resigned in 2000 after the attorney general ruled he had improperly accepted more than $300,000 in gifts from a French millionaire. Weizman was never indicted.

Mr. Katsav had a far less lofty resume than his predecessors. He had been a low-level Cabinet minister and a Likud Party stalwart when the parliament chose him to be president in 2000 in a shocking upset over Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres, after a revered rabbi swung votes by saying a “vision” showed him the heavens favored Mr. Katsav.

But Mr. Katsav’s relatively quiet presidency was rocked last summer when one of his female employees accused him of forcing her to have sex in his office. Other women came forward, painting the picture of a politician who had abused his power for years.