The head of the main Jewish settlers organisation in the occupied West Bank will not be sorry to see Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign in a corruption scandal. Olmert was elected in 2006 on a platform to remove dozens of isolated settlements in the West Bank, while keeping major Jewish enclaves in a future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Maale Shomron, where YESHA settlement council chairman Dani Dayan lives, is outside the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank and a candidate for removal under the Olmert proposal. The Israeli leader's imminent departure means "his plan has now been tossed into the garbage pail of history", Dayan, 52, told Reuters in an interview.
Olmert, facing indictment for corruption, has said he will step down once his Kadima party chooses a new leader in a September 17 election. He denies any wrongdoing. But Dayan, an Argentina-born businessman and teacher, said: "I'm definitely not calm. We can always end up making another colossal mistake." He noted that Israel's 2005 pullout from the Gaza Strip, in which 8,000 settlers were removed, was followed by the rise of Hamas Islamists, who now control the territory.
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