On Monday, May 29, Israeli settlers began resettling the formerly illegal outpost of Homesh in the occupied West Bank, which had been vacated in 2005. The development comes days after Israel’s Defense Minister approved the resettlement. According to reports, Jewish settlers have gone ahead and started relocating and rebuilding a Jewish religious school or Yeshiva in the area. After taking over the land, the Israeli government had declared it as “public,” facilitating the resumption of settlement activity.
Earlier this year, the Israeli Knesset approved a bill that legalized Homesh along with three other illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank—namely, Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim. The Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the bill despite the fact that the settlements are illegal both under Israeli and international law.
The settlements had been abandoned and the land was vacated in 2005 as part of the ‘disengagement plan’ of ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, during which, along with Gaza, these four settlements were evacuated. Until 1978, the land on which the Homesh settlement was built was part of the West Bank village of Burqa. The illegal settlement by Jewish Israelis began in 1980.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates strongly condemned the resettlement, especially the construction of the religious school. It termed such measures “silent and creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank, under the supervision and support of the Israeli government,” Wafa News reported.
In response to the resettlement, Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said that “instead of evacuating the outpost immediately, Israel is giving a reward to serious criminals.” It also noted that the new location of the yeshiva “still doesn’t allow Palestinians to reach their land and continues their dispossession.”
Within the Israeli government also there was opposition to the move, with both the attorney general and a number of military officials publicly and privately expressing concern over it. Israel’s main international ally, the United States, has stated that “we are deeply troubled by the Israeli government’s order that allows its citizens to establish a permanent presence in the Homesh outpost in the northern West Bank.”
Overall, there are currently more than 700,000 illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, spread across 279 illegal settlements and outposts, according to UN figures. 147 outposts among them have in the past been declared as illegal by Israeli courts.
