The Shomron Regional Council is preparing for the arrival of tens of thousands expected to flood the site of the destroyed town of Homesh on Thursday, Independence Day.

The event has been approved by the IDF and marchers will be allowed to enter the Homesh area – as opposed to last year's march to the site, which was broken up by the IDF on direct orders from then Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Despite that, about 30,000 protesters reached the site last year.

The IDF still maintains a strong presence in Homesh and Sa-nur, also destroyed during the 2005 disengagement. As a result, some 20 Knesset members have joined the “Homesh lobby” and are working to allow Jews to return to legally live at the site.

Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, said that “even several ministers in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government have admitted that leaving Homesh was a mistake,” because of its strategic importance.

Yossi Dagan, a member of the Homesh resettlement committee, said that the event was “the proper answer to Condoleeza Rice. We will go up to Homesh and tell her and her friends in the Israeli government that they will not only not succeed in chasing us out of outposts and towns, but that we will return to the places we have already been removed from.”

Salute to Returning Residents

The Independence Day event will include a ceremony saluting the core-group of Homesh First pioneers returning to live in Homesh. It has been nearly ten months, and despite regular forced evictions and the confiscation of their equipment on a regular basis, a group of activists have maintained a continuous Jewish presence in Homesh.

Though the event is not organized by Homesh First, which on principle does not request permission from the IDF to return to the town, it is endorsed by it. "There is no better birthday present for the State of Israel than the return to Homesh," the movement said in a statement.

Kiryat Arba musician Udi Davidi will give a free concert in Homesh at 3 PM Thursday.

Buses will be available from throughout the country, with private vehicles parked at the Bar-On Industrial Zone between Kedumim and Shavei Shomron, where shuttle buses will be available.

Arutz Sheva TV will broadcast the event live.

Click here for a photo feature on the pioneers returning to Homesh

David Shamah contributed to this report