Monday, August 08, 2005

Israeli Minister Quits as Gaza Pullout Nears - New York Times

Could there be better news? probably not.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 7 - Israel's cabinet voted Sunday to approve the first stage of the pullout from Gaza, even as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's main rival in the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, threw Israeli politics into turmoil by abruptly quitting the government.

The resignation ensures that Likud, the dominant party in Israel, will be mired in internal strife during the tense 10 days left before the scheduled start of the pullout. Some 55,000 army soldiers and police officers will be deployed to ensure that all 9,000 settlers leave Gaza, ending 38 years of Israeli occupation.

Mr. Netanyahu, a former prime minister who opposed the pullout, said he had to resign as finance minister at last because of his concerns about Israel's security. But many commentators interpreted his last-minute decision to quit - after publicly announcing that he would not - as a sign that he would challenge Mr. Sharon for the leadership of Likud in early elections that could come by spring. His platform will be security, and he is likely to push Israeli politics further to the right.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You mean the Israel finally pulls out of Gaza or that this guy resigned ?

Polly said...

take your pick. Israel should be out and Netanyahu is an ass.

Anonymous said...

Yeah it is about time that they pull out.

This might take off some of the tension there.
I don't know much about Netanyahu to be honest but did you know that the first german chancellor (Kanzler) Konrad Adenauer gave Israel (Ben Gurion) a 1 billion credit in German Marks in 1952 to buy weapons for the israeli army ?

Well I hope they can settle this conflict now - too many people died on both sides.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm ... I can see my posting in the detail - view but I cannot see it in when I click on the "comments" - link in the overview.

that is weird