Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as interim finance minister on Sunday, hours after Binyamin Netanyahu presented his resignation.

Sharon called Olmert, who currently also serves as minister of industry, trade and labor, to inform him of the decision. The two will meet on Monday morning to discuss financial objectives.

The appointment is expected to go into effect 48 hours after Netanyahu's resignation. But Sharon is reportedly looking into a way to enable Olmert to assume the position immediately.

Netanyahu announced his resignation Sunday afternoon in protest of Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria.

His resignation, which came during a Sunday cabinet meeting to approve the first step of the evacuations, did not succeed in torpedoing the vote. It was easily passed with the vote result of 17-5.

Netanyahu held a press conference at 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) to explain the reasons for his resignation.

"The disengagement is going ahead blindly," Netanyahu addressed reporters. "I understand the intentions here -- who doesn't want peace? But here in the Middle East this is not the way to attain peace -- it has failed before and it will fail again."

"At moments of truth a leader must ask himself what he stands for and what he is working towards." Netanyahu added, "And I cannot be a part of this disengagement."

Netanyahu's resignation letter, quoted by Army Radio, contained severe criticism of the disengagement plan.

"The moment of truth is here. I am not willing to collaborate with this process, which endangers the country's security," Netanyahu wrote.

"I had demanded that we keep the Philadelphi route (along the Gaza-Egypt border) to counter the impression that we are running away from terrorism. The government is ignoring the reality: terrorism is continuing, the Hamas is growing stronger, terrorists will smuggle weapons from Gaza to the southern West Bank," the letter said.

Netanyahu, a former prime minister and political hardliner, has long been conflicted over the Gaza withdrawal. He is considered Sharon's biggest political rival within the ruling Likud Party and was expected to challenge Sharon for party leadership ahead of the next election in late 2006.

Netanyahu's dramatic decision was welcomed by a number of his allies as well as a number of his opponents.

Some expressed hopes that Netanyahu's move would prompt a wave of additional resignations, which would ultimately lead to the government's collapse. But others assessed that it would have minimal repercussions.

Education Minister Limor Livnat, who voted against the first evacuation of settlements at Sunday's meeting, insisted that she would not follow Netanyahu's example and quit as well.

In the meantime, Yisrael Maimon, the cabinet secretary, said on behalf of the cabinet that both the disengagement and the government's economic policies would continue unchanged.

Sharon also pledged to continue the evacuation of settlements as planned, Israel Radio reported.

The resignation of Netanyahu, who had spearheaded a vast reform of Israel's market, rattled Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Sunday. Israeli stocks dropped 5 percent within minutes of the announcement.

Source: Xinhua