A kindergarten was opened in the illegal settlement outpost of Homesh on Monday, 20 years after it was evacuated under the 2005 disengagement plan, in a step that was praised by Education Minister Yoav Kisch and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as boosting Israel’s control over the West Bank.
In a message sent to the Samaria Regional Council of the northern West Bank for the beginning of the new school year, Kisch said Israel was “planting new roots of education and the future” in Homesh, while Smotrich said the opening of the kindergarten was “not just an educational event but a symbol of rebirth and renewed life in the heart of Samaria,” using the biblical name for the region.
The new kindergarten is supported by the Education Ministry and its department for the religious education network.
In May this year, the security cabinet approved the construction of, or retroactive legalization and recognition of, 22 new West Bank settlements, including at Homesh and Sa-Nur, two of four settlements evacuated under the disengagement plan.
Existing structures at Homesh, principally a yeshiva, have yet to be legalized, however.
Organizations that campaign against the settlement movement have strongly condemned the reestablishment of the settlements in the northern West Bank, arguing that they interrupt Palestinian territorial contiguity in the area and will create friction with the local Palestinian population.
“I salute the pioneering settlers who are strengthening sovereignty [over the West Bank] on the ground,” said Kisch, in his message to the Homesh settlers on Monday.
“The Ministry of Education under my leadership will provide educational solutions to every Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel,” he added.
Smotrich was similarly effusive, lauding the renewal of the settler presence in Homesh.
“The children who will start their day here with laughter and singing are the true answer to anyone who thought the settlements would be uprooted,” said the finance minister. “With God’s help, we will continue to build, expand, and deepen our roots in all parts of the homeland.”
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, declared that with the opening of the kindergarten, “the disengagement is dead,” and vowed that more kindergartens would be established in new settlements in the area.
According to a report in the Makor Rishon newspaper earlier this month, some 13 families currently reside in Homesh, although a spokesperson for the Samaria Regional Council did not confirm the figure.
In its statement to the press, the council quoted a Homesh resident, Benny Gal, as a representative of original Homesh families who said the return to the settlement was the fruit of 20 years of struggle.
“A cadre of Homesh settlers tried to come and return here from day one after the expulsion, and returned endless number of times,” said Gal. “We are witnessing with our eyes salvation and the realization of prophecy.”
Homesh was one of four settlements in the northern West Bank that were evacuated and partially destroyed as part of the disengagement plan, the main component of which was the evacuation of settlers from Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Thase settlements included Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim.
An illegal outpost centered around a yeshiva was built close to the site of the old settlement since 2005, but was moved to a nearby location in June 2023, following legal pressure from a High Court petition against the outpost.
In March that year the government repealed part of the 2005 Disengagement Law, which legally banned Israelis from entering the area of northern West Bank where the four former settlements were located, and in May of that year, the IDF revoked an order that had imposed a military ban on Israelis being present in Homesh.