RAMALLAH, 27 March 2007 — Just two days before the Arab summit in Riyadh, hundreds of Jewish settlers, with the approval of Israeli defense minister and the guard of Israeli forces, entered West Bank settlement of Homesh evacuated during the 2005 as part of disengagement plan.
Thousands of right-wing activists were expected to arrive in the area later in the day from Israel and other settlements in the West Bank in a bid to resettle the former settlement. In an effort to prevent violent clashes, the Israeli forces announced that it would enable settlers to arrive in Homesh but would not allow them to rebuild the settlement.
Meanwhile, Palestinians threatened to forcibly stop the marchers. Abu Araj, a senior commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, military wing of Fatah, in Jenin, said that if the settlers try to enter Homesh, the situation will return to its original state as far as the Palestinians are concerned. “They will face an armed resistance, fire and terror attacks. We shall not ignore this entry, and like in the past, we will exert every effort to liberate our land,” he declared.
At first, the Israeli forces announced that they would not allow anyone to arrive at the evacuated settlement. However, in a discussion held by the forces Sunday night, it was decided that hundreds of soldiers and police officers would take part in the operation and that additional forces would be dispatched to the area if needed.
The settlers, whose numbers organizers expected to swell into the thousands, vowed to reoccupy the abandoned settlement at Homesh and rebuild homes the Israeli army razed there a year and a half ago. “We are here to stay,” pledged march organizer Betzalel Smotrich.
“If they evacuate us by force we will return again.” The militants erected tents and hoisted the Israeli flag atop a water tower, the only intact structure in the abandoned homestead.
“It is a historic day. The Israeli flag will again fly above Homesh,” trumpeted Yossi Dagan, a former resident of a neighboring settlement that was also uprooted at the same time. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a news conference that the settlers would not be allowed to remain past nightfall, and police said they would forcibly remove demonstrators if they tried to stay the night.
The Israeli peace group Gush Shalom accused the army of caving into right-wing threats by allowing the settlers to march on the evacuated settlement. “The settlers threatened to beat soldiers who would prevent them from getting to Homesh and the army caved in and let them pass,” a statement read.
