Posted on 01/12/2005 2:32:18 PM PST by anotherview
Jan. 12, 2005 19:26 | Updated Jan. 12, 2005 19:43
Yesha spokesman sent on vacation
By YAAKOV KATZ
Settlers praying during a protest against the disengagement plan opposite of the Knesset
Yehoshua Mor-Yosef – longtime spokesman for the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip - was forced to take a leave of absence Wednesday over a recent rift between him and the settlement council.
Mor-Yosef, said to be one of the more moderate voices within the council, reportedly threatened to resign this week over recent calls by settler leaders and rabbis to escalate the struggle against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.
Recently offered the position of Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's new spokesman, Mor-Yosef was quoted this week as saying that Israel should withdraw to pre-1967 borders in order to achieve peace with the Palestinians.
"His remarks are words of heresy," said Elyakim Ha'etzni, a former MK and a member of the settlement council. "If they are true, then there is no place for him within us."
Ha'etzni said he is personally aware of at least two instances when Mor-Yosef misrepresented the settlement council in press releases.
One recent example of the difference of opinion within the settlement council was over TV footage from clashes between settlers and IDF troops at the recent evacuation of an illegal outpost near Yitzhar. Residents were filmed bombarding security forces with rocks, pouring oil on roads and calling soldiers "Nazis". Mor-Yosef argued that the footage harmed the settlers' cause while other members of the council disagreed.
On Wednesday, settler leaders downplayed reports of a rift within the council, but did admit that the time has come to begin searching for a new spokesman and director-general – a position partially taken over by Mor-Yosef after Adi Mintz left the post last year.
"We need a spokesman who will represent what we stand for," said Pinhas Wallerstein, a senior council member and the head of the Binyamin Regional Council. "We also need a new director-general since we are folding underneath all of the pressure and work."
The council's deputy-head Eliezer Hasdai said it is still too early to eulogize Mor-Yosef. "I believe Yehoshua can continue representing us, and if he wants to he can come back," Hasdai said. "It is entirely up to him."
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