Israeli settlers take control of Homesh settlement

Monday July 23, 2007 12:59 by IMEMC staff - IMEMC & agencies

Israeli border police and Israeli army troops started on Monday to evacuate hundreds of right-wing Jewish activists who managed to infiltrate the abandoned Homesh settlement and commence with building a synagogue there. Using water canons and batons only, the troops managed to arrest a number of activists, while others escaped to nearby Palestinian-owned land.

The police evacuated the settlement on Sunday, but several hundred settlers managed to bypass the huge number of Israeli police and army troops and infiltrated the settlement on Monday morning.

Israeli soldiers on Sunday detained 11 right-wing Israeli settlers after they clashed with local Palestinians in the vicinity of the abandoned Homesh settlement, located near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The settlers, who were attempting to reoccupy the abandoned Homesh settlement, were arrested on suspicion of vandalizing military property.

Of the approximately 300 settlers who attended the action, 70 entered Burqa village, located near Nablus, and clashed with local residents. Settlers attacked the residents in their homes and destroyed animal shades and cars.

Since Homesh was abandoned under the terms of the disengagement plan in 2005, the former settlement has been the site of much right-wing settler activity. On a number of occasions, and often under the protection of the Israeli army, settlers have re-entered the area in an attempt to reoccupy it.

Most recently, the Homesh First Organization, an umbrella group of right-wing settler associations, has called for the reoccupation of the ex-settlement, with Yossi Dagan, a senior member of the group, stating: “Today the public understands that returning to Homesh is the answer to Qassams. The public spirit fuels us with great optimism. Today the public understands that the disengagement was a mistake. Even the residents of Tel Aviv must demand Homesh be reclaimed, so that God forbid what's happening in Sderot and the Gaza-perimeter communities won't happen in central Israel.”

According to a Peace Now report, there are approximately 121 official Israeli settlements. These settlements are built on confiscated Palestinian land and, as a direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention, have been declared illegal by various UN Security Council resolutions and a number of international legal bodies, including the International Court of Justice.

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