JERUSALEM - Israel's Likud Chairman and former prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday said the government's policy of withdrawals from South Lebanon and Gaza in 2000 and 2005 "has failed the test of the end result" and called the withdrawals "bases for Iran."

"We must not repeat this mistake. This time we're going to have an Iranian base facing Jerusalem and the Dan Bloc, which includes Tel Aviv. We have to prevent Iran's armament and not let it establish new bases on our territory," Netanyahu said.

The former prime minister insisted that in Judea and Samaria, security must remain in Israeli hands and there can be no subcontractors. He warned that if Israel gives up this control, terror won't crawl in, but charge headlong toward us.

Netanyahu also charged the government of mistakenly allowing the conflict with Hamas to deteriorate into one of attrition, and called for a return to deterrence, "which means not a slow escalation, but using disproportionate force." -Agencies