Likud MKs: Time to Restore Northern Shomron Settlements

Nine Likud MKs – among them Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein – called for a reversal of the Disengagement Law, at least as it applies to northern Shomron.

“Fourteen years ago a crime was committed – towns were dismantled, and people were thrown out of their homes in northern Shomron,” said Mk Ariel Kellner, one of the MKs. “For some reason, the ‘champions of democracy’ and human rights activists among us are not only silent at this injustice – and in fact they are the ones who pushed the tractors to destroy these towns. This mistake can and must be repaired.”

The 2005 disengagement saw some 10,000 Israelis evicted from their homes in Gush Katif and from four towns in northern Shomron – Ganim, Kadim, Sa-Nur, and Chomesh. The latter is the only town that is still partially standing. Several proposals were advanced in the previous Knesset to allow Jews to return to Chomesh, and Edelstein said Thursday that the Likud would work to repeal the law that currently bans Jews from doing so.

“Compared to the disengagement from Gaza, whose price we are paying daily, the eviction of Jews from northern Shomron has practically been forgotten,” Edelstein said on a tour of the area with the Likud MKs. “Families who lived here were thrown out of their homes for no reason, and the time has come to restore their homes to them. The minimum we can do is cancel the Disengagement Law in northern Shomron during the 21st Knesset.”

Shomron Council head Yossi Dagan said that there was no reason not to do so. “The area is under complete Israeli control. I call on the Prime Minister to lead this effort. There is no cause more moral or just today.”