Netanyahu quits as Finance Minister. Israeli stock market tanks. [View All]

[lonestarnot]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8859413/

Israeli finance minister quits over Gaza move
Cabinet gives final approval to first stage of pullout
FREE VIDEO


• Netanyahu quits
Aug. 7: Israeli cabinet gives final approval to first phase of Gaza pullout, but Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quits in protest. NBC’s Martin Fletcher reports.
MSNBC

Updated: 2:20 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2005
JERUSALEM - Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigned from his post Sunday to protest next week’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, saying the plan will create a “base for Islamic terror” in Gaza.

Netanyahu, seen as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s biggest political rival within the Likud Party, submitted a letter of resignation during the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday. The resignation will take effect within 48 hours.

Netanyahu wrote that he cannot be part of what he described as a “process that ignores reality and proceeds blindly, creating a base for Islamic terror that will threaten the state.”