Pinchas Wallerstein, the retired head of the Benjamin Regional Council District in Shomron and the current executive director of the Yesha Council is being targeted by vandals along with veteran Amana director Ze’ev Chafer, known as “Zambish”. (Amana is the yishuv building and development wing of the Yesha Council).

The two are among the veteran personalities in the settlement movement and the Yesha Council and it appears, at least according to some reports, that they are being targeted in vandal attacks by political opponents, right-wingers who are angered by what they perceive as their policy of compromise towards the government vis-à-vis outposts and other matters.

During recent weeks, their vehicles the gardens of their homes have been damaged by those who are seeking ways to strike out at the two for their willingness to work with the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The prime minister has stated on numerous occasions that he foresees the day when the majority of the yishuvim located in Yehuda and Shomron will be eradicated in a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the PA.

The Yesha leadership today is divided. Wallerstein and Zambish are seen as the leaders of the old guard, the “deal-makers” who continuously work hand-in-hand with the national government.

The ‘more idealistic’ and hard-lined camp is headed by Daniela Weiss, mayor of Kedumim, who too claims a long and illustrious history as an active leader in the building of yishuvim in Yehuda and Shomron.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)