The IDF reversed itself Friday and ordered a ban on the planned return to the destroyed Jewish community of Homesh on Independence Day. Homesh organizers plan to ignore the order.
OC Central Command Major-General Yair Naveh said a day earlier that more than 10,000 people who support restoring a Jewish presence at Homesh would be allowed to celebrate Independence Day with a march to Homesh on condition they leave at the end of the festivities. It was widely assumed that permission to stage the event was given in order to avoid a confrontation on the holiday celebrating the rebirth of the Jewish state.
The IDF did not explain the reversal of its policy, but according to a Haaretz report, permission was revoked by Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
Naveh had also commented on Thursday that the expulsion of Jews and destruction of Homesh and more than 24 other Jewish communities may have been a mistake.
Boaz HaEtzni, one of the organizers of the event, told Arutz-7 Friday that Tuesday's march and celebration will take place and charged that the IDF's change in policy reflects "confusion" in the government.
"There is no way they can stop us, just like they could not stop us in the first march," HaEtzni said. He pointed out that the rural area is wide open and cannot be isolated as was Gush Katif during the demonstrations before the uprooting of Jewish communities in the summer of 2005.
In the most recent march just before Pesach, the IDF and police peacefully evicted hundreds of protesters who marched to the site after receiving permission from the authorities to do so. Activists also reached the site on Chanukah for a menorah-lighting ceremony several months ago.