Hundreds of people visited the site of the destroyed town of Homesh on Wednesday morning, holding festive Independence Day prayers.
The event is the first since the cancellation of the Disengagement Law, which prohibited the entrance of Israelis into northern Samaria towns which were destroyed in the 2005 Disengagement.
MK Limor Sohn Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit), whose home was destroyed and who spearheaded the law to cancel the Disengagement, said, "Independence Day this year is especially moving. It is difficult to describe in words the depth of our thanksgiving, hope, and the optimism that it brings."
"After years during which we visited Homesh each Independence Day to protest the Disengagement, this year I was moved to come to Homesh to participate in a special prayer of thanksgiving for the cancellation of the Disengagement Law, which we achieved after years of public battles."
MK Sohn Har Melech added, "This celebration of thanksgiving, with the beloved men and women of Homesh, expresses better than anything else the true meaning of Jewish independence and sovereignty in our Land."
"Obviously, we have a ways to go before we have full independence - and it starts with repopulating the towns which were destroyed, and later building many more towns all around Israel," she concluded.