Israel's Finance Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu resigned from the government on Sunday, claiming that its plan to withdraw from settlements in the occupied territories would allow the creation of a base for "Islamic terrorism."
In what is widely seen as a prelude to a challenge to the leadership of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu submitted his letter of resignation as the Cabinet met to rubber stamp the first phase of the evacuation of settlements in Gaza.
"I am not prepared to be a partner to a move which ignores reality, and proceeds blindly toward turning the Gaza Strip into a base for Islamic terrorism which will threaten the state," he wrote.
Netanyahu then voted against the proposal to pull out of the settlements of Morag, Netzarim and Kefar Doron next week, which was carried by 17 votes to five.
The withdrawal from these settlements is the first phase in Sharon's plan to return the entire Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority. Analysts say the resignation is unlikely to have any effect on this disengagement, but will increase political instability.
The rivalry between Sharon and Netanyahu is intense and his resignation or dismissal was always a possibility.
Netanyahu, who was prime minister between 1996 and 1999, was defeated by Sharon in a vote to lead the Likud party in 2002.
He has introduced free-market reforms, which have pleased the financial markets but increased poverty.
Analysts believe that by staying in the Cabinet until now, Netanyahu has ensured that Israel will withdraw from the settlements, and by resigning can claim he opposed the plan if it backfires in the future.
They point out that he was careful to frame his rejection of the withdrawal in an ambiguous way, attacking its unilateral nature rather than the plan itself. `
"There is a way to achieve peace and security, but a unilateral withdrawal under fire and with nothing in return is certainly not the way," he wrote.
He called the disengagement "an irresponsible step which will endanger Israel's security, split the people, institute the principle of return to the 1967 borders, and in the future, endanger Jerusalem as well."
In Israel, Netanyahu, with his US education and fluent English, is seen as an articulate advocate of Israel's interests in the international arena, but polls suggest voters do not trust him.
Before the Cabinet meeting, Shaul Mofaz, the defense minister, attacked Netanyahu for his inconsistency on disengagement.
"You cannot dither in the wind every morning anew and say `My opinion's cent,'" he said.
A spokesman for Yesha, which is the settlers council, described Netanyahu's resignation as "commendable," but other prominent rightwing members saw it as opportunistic.
Israel Harel, a founder of the settler movement, said Netanyahu's resignation was too late to assist the anti-disengagement camp.
"This is not the act of a real leader. If he wanted to bring about change he had to resign a long time ago," he said.
Sharon has appointed his deputy, Ehud Olmert, as finance minister.
A week before Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is scheduled to begin, most settlers have applied for compensation for their upcoming evacuation from their homes, Israel Radio reported yesterday.
More than 1,000 of the about 1,700 families who will be evacuated have submitted application forms to the Israeli government, which has thus far approved nearly 500. More than half of those approved have already been paid out, the radio said.
The applications for compensation are a sign that many settlers have come to realize that they will not succeed in preventing the Gaza withdrawal, but radical opponents have declared they will resist it.
Israeli police have arrested nine Israelis for smuggling protesters against the pullout into the Gaza Strip, which has been declared a closed military zone and off-limits to non-resident Israelis. The pullout is scheduled to start on Aug. 15 or within 48 hours of that date.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS