Israel Matzav

Returning to Homesh

Dozens of revenants are heading for Homesh in Northern Samaria today. Homesh's Jews were expelled from their homes shortly after the de-Judaizing of Gaza in August 2005. YNet reports:

Police set up barrivades near Shevi Shomron but some setters reported to have bypassed security forces and reached Homesh.

A youth named Yitzhak who asked not be identified by his family name told Ynet: "There are six of us here inside Homesh, there are several Border Police jeeps and a couple of police vehicles searching for us in the area."

Rabbi Shimon Ben-Zion is with one of the additional groups trying to reach Homesh from several different directions. "There are 150 of us walking towards Homesh," said Ben-Zion, "we were expelled from there and we are going back. Everyone knows that it was a mistake, and 'mistake' is putting it mildly. It is a grave injustice to uproot people like this and put terrorists in their place. We want to correct this injustice and return home."

...

Yehuda Amrani told Ynet that his group was already on the outskirts of Homesh, after having marched for almost 30 km (19 miles). "We left early in the morning to return to a community in Samaria that unfortunately was brought to ruin during the expulsion. This is our small act to express our return to the values which the state of Israel is built upon, which have sadly been damaged over the past two years."

"We intend to reach the community and hold a small service there, no provocations or confrontations," said Amrani.

Menorah Hazani, a Homesh evacuee, told Ynet that hundreds of people, including Homesh residents and their supporters, are currently en route to the community though there have been several altercations with security forces who are blocking the junctions in Samaria leading to the area.

"This is a pilgrimage to the community," said Hazani, "we will light the Hanukkah candles and declare the formation of a core group that intends to return to Homesh. Already there are 25 families who mean to return there soon… it is possible, it is within our reach."

Meanwhile, Arutz Sheva is reporting that defenseless Defense Minister Amir Comrade Peretz, who failed miserably against Hezbullah and Hamas this past summer, is now seeking to dismantle the Jewish community of Migron, which is between Beit El and Psagot, even if doing so causes another Amona-like riot.

Peace Now, the radical left-wing group dedicated to ending Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, has made Migron one of its prime targets in recent years. Though some of the land on which Migron was founded is officially listed as privately owned by Arabs, said Arabs had never come forward to make their claim, nor had they ever cultivated or laid any claim to it - until Peace Now sought them out and encouraged them to do so.

Migron is located on a strategically important hill crest, overlooking the highway leading to Beit El, Ofrah, Shilo and the northern Shomron. It is located between Kokhav Yaakov and Michmash, about a 15-minute drive north of Jerusalem.

Founded in March 2002, Migron (mentioned in Samuel I 14,2 and Isaiah 10, 28) grew quickly, reaching 42 families after only a year and a half - at which point the government abruptly clamped down on further growth. Close to 100 children now live there. The synagogue is housed in a permanent structure, while the residents live in caravans (mobile homes without wheels). Six government ministries, the Civil Administration, the Electric Company, Mekorot Water Company and other official bodies have all taken part in establishing infrastructures for the community.

Three years ago, the Ariel Sharon government threatened to uproot Migron, but finally decided, out of various political considerations, to remove it from the chopping block. Peace Now said at the time that it would not accept such a move.

In response to a Peace Now petition against Migron, the government responded with a brief that it finally submitted to the High Court of Justice yesterday (Sunday).

The brief was described by one of the Migron residents as a "total disappointment." It concludes that "there is no legal possibility of accepting [Migron's] existence in the long term," and that the "only questions on the agenda are the timing of the outpost's evacuation and whether it will be evacuated voluntarily by the residents, and its buildings demolished by [the residents] themselves, or whether it will be necessary to employ the authorities for this purpose."

Haaretz reported that the government's response is that Defense Minister Amir Peretz has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to hold talks with Yesha leaders reagrding an agreement on the voluntary evacuation of all the illegal outposts "in the near future." If these talks bear no fruit, the brief said, Peretz plans to order Migron evacuated in about half a year. To this end, the government asks the court to postpone the next hearing on the case for 4-5 months.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results." The government of Israel is insane....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:13 PM