Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan hangs a Mezuzah on the new Yeshiva

In The Dark Of Night, Homesh Yeshiva Erected On State Land With IDF Present

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The Judean Staff
National

Despite contrary advice from the security services, overnight between Sunday and Monday, Israeli civilians moved the controversial Homesh Yeshiva to State owned land just a few hundred meters from where it had been until today, on what had been ruled to be private Palestinian land. This is another stage in the development of the Yeshiva, a struggle for which the people of Homesh worked for years together with the head of the Samaria Council Yossi Dagan and others.

Now, instead of illegal tents, trailers have been placed in the new location in which the religious school will be. This is the first time since the unilateral disengagement from Judea, Samaria and Gaza in 2005 that more permanent structures have been placed in Homesh. Reports say, the buildings were erected in violation of the law because no formal approval had yet been given to build, despite gaining approval for the planning of the construction. However, even with no clearance to begin construction, security officials said that the transfer of the buildings to the new location was indeed carried out under the protection of of the Israel Defense Forces at the request of several lawmakers. In an interview with the Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot, a security official said "this (the IDF presence in Homesh) was a suggestion by the minister in the Ministry of Defense, Bezalel Smotrich, to the IDF, after heavy pressure he exerted on (Defense Minister Yoav) Gallant."

In the end, the source clarified that the army typically follows the instructions of the ‘political echelon.’ Meanwhile, those around Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have yet to comment on the controversial move. There appears to be some confusion since an amendment to the 2005 disengagement law that was supposedly canceled in Northern Samaria said that the status quo in the area would be maintained, and no new structures or settlements would be established in the isolated area of northwestern Samaria. However, Homesh was an existing community when Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan went into effect and since then, activists have worked to keep the Yeshiva open – using tents and temporary structures to accommodate the students.

Along with the doubts about the legality of the move, senior army officials admit that the move was carried out as a "hijacking," as they say, with no order or coordination between Smotrich and Gallant and the professionals within the IDF and the Civil Administration.

Since the establishment of the government, tremendous pressure has been exerted on the part of the settlers, as a result of which a "five-point clause" was included in the coalition agreements . In fact, the religious Zionist party which Smotrich heads up understood that the way to settle Homesh must go through the repeal of the disengagement law, a step approved by the Knesset about two months ago despite American and European protests. At the same time the activists requested the cancellation of the disengagement law, they also asked to allow the re-settlement of the area, a request that the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin denied.

Immediately after the repeal of the 2005 law, Smotrich and Gallant’s people began to work to legalize the permanent settlement of the area, with the main obstacle to that goal being the High Court of Justice and a petition filed by the Palestinian village of Bokara with assistance from the liberal-leaning “Yesh Din” (“There Is Justice”) organization. According to the High Court, the state had to explain why it did not evacuate the Yeshiva from the former location since it was ruled to have been set up on private Palestinian land.

During the past few weeks, and contrary to the aforementioned position of the security establishment, the teams began formulating a solution, the main point of which is to move the yeshiva to the territory on State owned land that was not in dispute, thus providing a solution before the State was set to respond to the High Court with Minister Gallant’s approval. In recent days, the Homesh activists have made several attempts to set up the the buildings but they were met with the refusal of the army, as according to them, this was an illegal move. However, under pressure from the political side, the buildings were allowed to be put up.

In a statement published by Yeshiva Homesh, it was stated that the move to the new location was done in a "secret" operation - and the background for this is probably the fear of the Palestinians living in the area. The operation was carried out only after approval was received from Gallant, and in terms of settlement this is, as mentioned, a significant step on the way to building up the broader Homesh community. It should be known that in the shadow of American protest, Israel emphasized that there had been no intention to allow Homesh to be settled, but they did tell the US that studies in the yeshiva would continue.

In the press release from Yeshivat Homesh this morning, they stated: "In a covert operation throughout the night, the students of the Homesh Yeshiva placed the Yeshiva in its permanent place on the land owned by the state. This is another step on the way to the full legalization of the Homesh Yeshiva." At the end of the work, early in the morning, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, arrived and placed a mezuzah at the entrance to the study hall of the Yeshiva. It was also reported that the operation was made possible with the help of donations from Israel and abroad and that students of the Homesh Yeshiva and volunteers who came to help participated in it.

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