WRAP Netanyahu on reasons for resignation, file, reax

(7 Aug 2005) SHOTLIST Jerusalem - 7 August 2005 1. Israel Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at podium 2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Finance Minister: "I cannot be a partner to a move that I think compromises the security of Israel, tears the people apart, and enshrines the principle of withdrawal to the indefensible '67 lines, and I think the future will also risk the unity of Jerusalem. I think there is a great battle in the world today between the forces of terror and the forces of freedom. The only way that we can win this battle, anywhere, everywhere, is by confronting terror and not appeasing it. Appeasement doesn't work. You can try to go around this a hundred times, it just doesn't work." Tel Aviv - 7 August 2005 3. Dr. Dan Shifta, Director of National Security Studies at the University of Haifa sitting in his office 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Dan Shifta, Director of the National Security Studies, University of Haifa: "Disengagement is a done deed. I don't believe it can be stopped now. I would go further than that. If Netanyahu was not sure it was already a done deed he would not have resigned. One reason that he did not resign before this step, before this point, is because he was afraid that maybe he will not go through. He understands like every other sensible Israeli that this is the best thing for Israel to do. This is what mainstream Israelis want, this is what the American administration wants. This is what Israel needs at the moment and Netanyahu knows it better than many others." 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Haim Ramon, Israeli Minister without portfolio: "I think that this resignation is inevitable because Mr Netanyahu was against the disengagement. He described disengagement as a disaster to the state of Israel. And you cannot be a minister in the government, and a very important minister, like Finance Minister on the one hand and on the other to be against the main and most important policy of the government the Prime Minister is leading. Therefore this resignation is something Netanyahu should have done two or three months ago." Kfar Darom - 7th August 2005 Kfar Darom settlement - 7 August 2005 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hadassah Dion, Settler: "I just heard the news that Bibi Netanyahu quit the government. I think I can speak for basically everybody in Kfar Darom, that it's a nice gesture, but it is much, much too late. Is it going to do anything now? We don't think so." Jerusalem - 7 August 2005 7. Mid shot of Netanyahu leaving the press conference STORYLINE Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigned on Sunday in protest at the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank. Netanyahu submitted his letter of resignation during the weekly Cabinet session, just before his government colleagues voted 17-5 to give approval to the first stage of the pullout, the dismantling of three isolated Gaza settlements. He told a news conference after the session that he resigned because he could not be "a partner to a move that I think compromises the security of Israel." He said such warnings by security officials were being ignored by the government. In all, 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank are to be removed by September. Netanyahu, a former prime minister and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's biggest political rival in the ruling Likud Party, had been zigzagging over the past few months - helping approve the pullout in several Cabinet votes, but also trying to torpedo it in a last-minute parliamentary manoeuvre earlier this year. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...