Pinchas Wallerstein.Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski [file]
The move comes amid a heated battle against the 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction that has deepened the rift in the settler community concerning whether IDFsoldiers should obey orders to destroy Jewish homes in the West Bank.
Wallerstein became director-general in 2008, after heading the Binyamin Regional Council for 28 years. He was the first person to hold the Binyamin post, and under his leadership it became the largest regional council in the country.
In his resignation letter, which he sent to settler leaders on Monday, Wallerstein said, "I am well aware that this is a period of fateful significance in which we need to focus our power and energy under responsible leadership, in light of the threat to the settlement enterprise."
He said he was convinced that the Council of Jewish Communities was the only body that could wage this struggle.
At the same time, he said, he did not see how he could do his job without harming Dani Dayan's role as its chairman.
"After much difficulty and deliberation, I have decided to leave my position, both as a member of the council and as its director-general. I am doing this first and foremost to allow Dani Dayan to set his style and signature on the council's activities. I will decide on the exact [departure] date with Dani, but it will be in the coming days. It should be noted that the differences between us are more about quantity and less about substantive issues."
Still, in his letter he highlighted two things that he had vehemently opposed - soldiers' refusal to obey orders to help in the evacuation of Jews and the "price tag" policy by which some settlers respond to IDF actions against them by damaging Palestinian property.
The possibility that Wallerstein might resign first arose in October when he was harshly criticized for condemning the actions of soldiers in the Shimshon Brigade who hoisted a banner against the evacuation of Jewish settlements at a swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall.
At the time, there were calls for his resignation, which were quelled when Wallerstein withdrew his condemnation.
Now, in his letter to the council, Wallerstein said, "Already during the discussion on whether to condemn the soldiers or not, I have not heard any member of the [council's] secretariat justifying the behavior of the soldiers. Some of us thought it was unworthy to respond, others thought the whole act was childish and stupid, and I thought under the circumstances that we should have responded, and firmly. I still think so today.
"It is our duty today to make sure the military isn't involved in the politics of evacuation and demolition, but we must not allow soldiers in uniform to take actions that may harm the sanctity of the IDF. It's true that I believe we should not sit idly by while the military and itssoldiers are being harmed in any way," he continued.
"It is not a question of tactics, it is an essential stance that views Israel as 'the beginning of our salvation' and therefore any step that harms the country's strength or the IDF, no matter where it comes from, is unforgivable," he said.
Wallerstein said he intended to state his opinions but would not attack the council.
"This will be the first time in my adult life I will not be part of public leadership. I was privileged to be part of it. I thank those who allowed me to represent them," he said.
Many settlers leaders including Dayan said they were sorry Wallerstein had decided to resign and that his contributions to the council and to the movement over the years had been invaluable.
"With his own two hands he built a large part of the settlements. I have admired him and I still do. I hope that even after his resignation he will remain an integral part ofthe council," Dayan told The Jerusalem Post.
Avi Ro'eh, who became the head of the Binyamin Regional Council after Wallerstein, said that "everyone recognizes his great contribution. Everything that is here in the Binyamin region is because his strength and determination."
But settlement activist Boaz Haetzni said that while all that was true, Wallerstein's opinions had become increasingly unpopular in Judea and Samaria, particularly his opposition to the growing belief there thatsoldiers had the right to refuse orders to destroy settler homes.
"It shows how strong that movement is, that someone like Wallerstein can not combat it," Haetzni said.
While his record on settlement building is undisputed, his methods of opposing government policy have failed and his opinions at this stage "endanger the settlement movement," Haetzni said.
