Army Radio quoted a senior government source Tuesday saying that the government had approved the mass-ascent to Homesh as an effort to strengthen the Yesha Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza communities.

The source said that the successful returns to Homesh, one of four northern Samaria communities demolished as part of the 2005 Disengagement, had empowered “extremist groups” such as Homesh First.

The Yesha Council has recently integrated activist leaders into its ranks, calling itself the Renewed Yesha Council. It hopes to regain the trust of segments of the public that believe it was complicit in the Disengagement.