120 people spent yet another Sabbath in Disengagement-destroyed Homesh, Hevron residents brace for a violent eviction, and cyclists ride from Tapuach to Ariel.

With Israeli and US government officials trying to give the impression that a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria is all but a done deal, many members of the vast Jewish population of these areas refuse to allow any locations to be closed off to Jews.

In the past two weeks alone, Yesha activists have turned Ariel and Homesh in the Shomron, HaEitam Hill near Efrat, Hevron, and Nisanit in northern Gaza into flashpoints of idealism - resulting in clashes with the security forces.

This past Sabbath, over 100 people camped out in Homesh, one of the four Jewish communities destroyed in 2005 by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Disengagement expulsion/evacuation plan.  Unlike Jewish Gaza, which was handed over to the control of the Palestinian Authority after Israel's unilateral withdrawal, northern Shomron still remains under full Israeli control.  A core group of families, backed by a large organization named Homesh First, has made it its goal to return to and rebuild Homesh.  They point out that the Disengagement has been proven to increase security dangers from Gaza, and that turning land over to Fatah-Hamas control in Samaria will do the same. 

Several mass ascents have been made to Homesh, including a march this past Chanukah, a three-day resettlement attempt in March, an Independence Day march, and a Six Day War anniversary march.  The latest attempt, however, is in a totally different league than these short-lived affairs, and has been ongoing for close to three full weeks.

One youth who spent this past Sabbath there told Arutz-7, "The Border Guard units come every once in a while to try to throw us out, but we have advance scouts and we know when they're coming; they know they can't really get all of us down, because most of us run to the hills...  We can't yet build anything permanent, except for a synagogue in a half-way fashion; we have been staying in tents up until now... The goals has been reached, however: It is clear that there can be, is, and will be a Jewish presence in Homesh."

Terrorism Victim's Widow Targeted

Former and future-hopeful Homesh resident Limor Sohn Har-Melekh, one of the leaders of the campaign to return to Homesh, was nearly arrested by police today in her home in Carmel, south of Gush Etzion.  The police demanded that she accompany them without her four-month-old son.  The Almagor Terror Victims Association charged that this was an attempt to harass her because of her involvement in the Homesh campaign, including notably her daily updates heard by phone, and demanded an end to this harassment.  In the event, her neighbors in Carmel surrounded her home and did not let the police approach it, and the police ultimately left empty-handed.



Limor saw her first husband, Shuli Har-Melekh, gunned down by Palestinian terrorists in August 2003 near Maaleh Michmash.   Seven months pregnant at the time, Limor was also wounded in the attack, and her baby was delivered by Caesarian section several hours afterwards.  The couple's other child, 1-year-old Ya'ir, was not with them at the time.  Limor later remarried, and the couple merited to have a brit milah [ritual circumcision] ceremony for their eight-day-old son at Homesh itself, during one of the first mass ascents to the site earlier this year.



Hevron and Eitam

Residents of Hevron are bracing for a violent eviction of two families from Jewish-owned property.  The army has deemed the area a closed military zone, but supporters are continuing to stream to the area in an attempt to deter the army from evicting them.  Nine families agreed to leave the area voluntarily last year, with the understanding that they would be allowed to return later; the government later overruled the army and reneged on this agreement.



The eviction is expected to take place on Monday.  The level of violence will be determined by the police, the residents say.



Atop Eitam Hill, at the northern approach to Efrat in Gush Etzion, 200 people gathered today to protest the intention to exclude from Jewish territory a site that had already been earmarked for 2,500 Jewish housing units. Some ten days ago, police put a violent end to a Jewish protest at the site.

Bicycles from Ariel

A less controversial event took place on Friday when some 15 youths from the central Shomron community of Tapuach took off by bicycle on a road largely traveled by Arabs.  They cycled westward to Ariel, some ten kilometers (six miles) away, protected by the town's youth coordinator, David HaIvri.  The youths then took a swim at the Eshel HaShomron pool just outside Ariel, a short walk away from the gravesite of Moses' successor, Joshua bin Nun.