The residents will return to the communities of Homesh and Sa-Nur, which although destroyed during the unilateral withdrawal, remain under Israel’s security control.
Boaz HaEtzni, one of the organizers of the Chanukah return, said the first stage of the long-term plan to rebuild the communities is the ascent of a core-group to the ruins next week.
The evicted residents cite Shabak (General Security Service) chief Yuval
Diskin’s August testimony before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as proof of the need for them to return. Diskin said at the time, "Northern Samaria has turned into Islamic Jihad land due to the lack of a permanent military presence there."
Posters advertising the return read: “Fixing a mistake. The situation of Sderot and the strengthening of terrorists prove: the expulsion of Jews and destruction of communities strengthens the terrorism.”
The call goes on: “Core settlement groups for Homesh and Sa-Nur call upon the public to join the ascent to the site at Homesh, which will take place Monday, the 27th of Kislev, the third day of Chanukah (December 18), at 1 PM.”
The posters instruct groups to make their way to Homesh using whatever means possible in case roads are blocked.
Limor Har-Melech, a former resident of Homesh, told Maariv newspaper that residents have every intention of returning and rebuilding their homes. “The war in the north proved to all that the Disengagement was a mistake," she said, "and it has also become clear that the IDF wants to return to northern Samaria, so there is really no reason that the residents will not succeed in returning home."
Many of the expelled residents are today living in the community of Carmel, in the southern Hevron Hills region. “Even if the army prevents us from getting there, we will return a week later, and then the week after that. We will not tire and we will succeed,” Har-Melech promised.
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union-NRP), who moved to Sa-Nur prior to its destruction, has come out in support of the initiative. “The destruction of Jewish communities in northern Samaria created a vacuum in that region, which enables terror groups to operate there,” he said. “When the IDF enters, it comes as an occupier into enemy territory. To restore a Jewish presence means to restore the IDF’s ability to operate in the region in defense of Jewish communities, rather than as an occupation army.”
MK Eldad says he will join the groups in returning to northern Samaria. “The Chanukah return will signify and actualize the Jewish right of return to the homes unjustly destroyed.”
The IDF spokesman has not commented on the residents’ intentions to return home, though a military source told Maariv that the IDF is engaged in dialogue with the residents.