JERUSALEM — The resignation of Israeli Finance Minister, Binyamin NetanyahuIn has galvanized opponents of the planned pullout from the Gaza
Strip and northern West Bank.
Netanyahu, the No. 2 figure in the ruling Likud Party, said he could not participate in a
government that would be responsible for the establishment of what he termed
a terrorist haven in the Gaza Strip.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that the unilateral withdrawal under
fire doesn't give us anything," Netanyahu wrote in his resignation letter on
Sunday. "Indeed, it is the opposite: it endangers the security of Israel,
divides the nation, and sets the principle of withdrawal to the 1967 lines
that are not defendable."
In his letter, Netanyahu said Israel's withdrawal from the Egypt-Gaza
border and approval for a Palestinian Authority sea port would ensure the
supply of weapons and explosives to insurgency groups, Middle East Newsline reported. He said the government of
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was "ignoring reality" as Hamas and other insurgency groups were enhancing
their capabilities to attack Israel.
Netanyahu referred
to assessments by military commanders of intensified missile and mortar
attacks from the Gaza Strip on communities within Israel.
"After the terror attacks in New York, Washington, London and Sinai, the
world begins to understand that it is necessary to fight terror and not make
compromises," Netanyahu said. "The international community understands more
and more that it is impossible to fight terror by running away from it,
because the accumulating experience shows that the terror only strengthens
and pursues us. And yet Israel, which showed the world the way to fight
terror, now, goes in the completely opposite direction."
The resignation sparked a sharp rise in the U.S. dollar against the
Israeli shekel. At the same time, withdrawal opponents announced they would
resume protests on Monday, including the blocking of major highways in the
country.
"It [resignation] has been something he's been thinking about for
months," Netanyahu's chief of staff, Yehiel Leiter, said.
The withdrawal operation has been set for Aug. 17. On Monday, the
Defense Ministry announced that more than 1,500 Jewish families would be
evicted from 25 communities in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.
Ministry director-general Amos Yaron said contractors have been ordered to
demolish 50 buildings a day.
Netanyahu had been under heavy pressure from withdrawal opponents to
resign the Cabinet. As late as Aug. 6, the finance minister said he would
remain in his post. Netanyahu was replaced by his rival, Deputy Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert.
The finance minister submitted his resignation letter after the Cabinet
voted to approve the first stage of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. That
stage called for the eviction of Jewish residents from three communities —
Kfar Darom, Morag and Netsarim.
