Israelis prepare to repeal failed disengagement, return to Samarian towns

Will Israel repeal part of the failed disengagement and return to northern Samaria? 

By: World Israel News Staff

Israeli lawmakers are preparing to approve legislation that would repeal the 2005 Disengagement Law in northern Samaria, a move that could mean that four Israeli communities that were destroyed during the disengagement will be rebuilt in an area that Israelis are currently barred from accessing.

The Knesset’s’ Ministerial Legislative Committee is considering a bill that repeals the 2005 Disengagement Law in northern Samaria, enabling Israelis to return to the destroyed communities of Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kanim.

“This [2005] evacuation had no political or security justification, and the public understands this very well,” said Member of Knesset (MK) Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli, the initiator of the bill, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“There is not justification for barring the free movement of Jews in that area. This legislation is the foundation for the larger initiative to rebuild the four communities,” Mualem-Rafaeli said.

During the 2005 unilateral disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria, Israel evicted a bloc of 17 communities in the Strip and four communities in northern Samaria. The move, in which 8,600 Israelis lost their homes, remains highly controversial to this day, as it is directly linked to increased Palestinian terrorism and rocket fire emanating from Gaza.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, who was removed from his Homesh home during the disengagement, called for action now.

“The communities are waiting for their residents to return. The roads, the electricity poles and the stairs are still there, as is the folly and the time has come to cancel that,” Dagan said.

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yair Naveh, who commanded the IDF’s withdrawal from northern Samaria in 2005, declared that Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Israeli communities in northern Samaria in 2005 was a “grave mistake.”

“There was no advantage to this eviction. None. Zero. Nothing has changed for the better there. It had no added value to security or to anything else. It was a frustrating event that left a feeling that it was all for nothing,” Naveh said in June.

On Sunday afternoon, the ministers decided to postpone a decision regarding the bill until next week, reported Channel 2 news.