Israeli head of the Shomron regional council, Yossi Dagan, announced that he met with the new Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and discussed the necessity of rebuilding four settlements that were evacuated in the West Bank.
Dagan stated that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to change the status quo in the north of the West Bank and would rebuild the four settlements which Israel withdrew from in 2005.
He pledged to tackle this “stigma” represented in the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, which led to Israeli full military and civil withdrawal from Gaza as well as the evacuation of four settlements in the north of the West Bank.
The Homesh settlement is one of four evacuated according to a 2005 law established under Ariel Sharon's government and part of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.
According to the law, the sites became closed military areas banned for entry and residence. But Ehud Olmert's government did not demolish the houses at the time. His government did, however, demolish all settlements and houses in the Gaza settlements.
The settlers wanted to return to the Homesh buildings and kept revisiting the region, aiming to relocate there. They also established a religious school there.
However, entry to the area is illegal. An indictment was filed against Rabbi Elisha Cohen, the prominent cleric in the settlement because he visited it after its evacuation.
US President Joe Biden's administration expressed opposition to building new settlements in the West Bank, in general, and in Homesh, in particular.
“Our call to refrain from unilateral steps certainly includes any decision to create a new settlement, to legalize outposts or allowing buildings of any kind deep in the West Bank adjacent Palestinian communities or on private Palestinian land,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said when asked about the Homesh outpost during a Wednesday press briefing.
“The Homesh outpost in the West Bank is illegal even under Israeli law,” Price told reporters.
Israeli media spoke about plans by 1,000 settlers to spend the Passover next spring in Evyatar while 500 settlers plan to visit Homesh.
The Passover occurs on April 5, only a few days after the 90-day deadline set by the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice for the government to explain the reason for not demolishing the Homesh settlement so far.
