Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman resigns amid Gaza cease-fire
WASHINGTON — Avigdor Lieberman announced Wednesday that he is resigning as Israeli Defense Minister over an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that ended the most serious flare-up in violence in over four years between Israel’s military and Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The leader of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party said that the truce in Gaza “cannot be interpreted in any other way than a surrender to terror” and that it will “severely harm” Israel’s security in the long term.
Lieberman—who also objected to Israel’s allowing Qatar to deliver $15 million in aid to Gaza last week—called for new elections and said all members of his party will quit the coalition government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party, according to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Lieberman has demanded a far stronger Israeli response to the most intense round of rocket fire against Israel since a 50-day war in 2014. That war killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 72 Israelis, according to the U.N.
The cross-border attacks began Sunday after a botched Israeli undercover raid – apparently on a reconnaissance mission – into Gaza set off a battle that has killed at least seven Palestinians, including five militants, among them a Hamas commander. In Israel, one person was killed in a rocket strike and about 70 have been injured, according to Haaretz. A senior Israeli military officer also died in the fighting.
On Wednesday morning, Palestinian officials said a Gaza fisherman was killed by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip, marking the first fatality since the start of the cease-fire saying.
Lieberman’s resignation will take effect in 48 hours and Netanyahu — who currently also serves as foreign minister — will take over the defense portfolio on an interim basis.
The Trump administration has vowed to release a peace plan between Israelis and Palestinians but that pledge has faced setbacks including President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a city whose eastern half Palestinians claim as a capital for any future state.
Contributing: The Associated Press and USA TODAY’s Kim Hjelmgaard from London.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/11/14/israeli-defense-minister-avigdor-lieberman-resigns-amid-gaza-cease-fire/1997669002/
posted by Satish Sharma at
21:22
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