A few days ago, a large group of Jews arrived at the site of the Sa-Nur settlement in northern Samaria, returning to where the community existed until 15 years ago until it was forcibly evacuated during the Disengagement in 2005.
Around 100 people – men, women, and children – accompanied by MK Ariel Kallner (Likud) arrived and announced their intention to renew the Jewish community there. They spent the night at the site, and began to make it suitable for habitation. The new core community consists, so far, of around 20 families, along with young couples, graduates of elite army units, educators, students, and other professionals.
One is Niv, recently discharged from the army and now learning in Tel Aviv University; another is Yaakov, who is taking a teachers’ training course; Yitzhak, who works in the security industry has also joined the group; as have two students studying architecture at Ariel University.
The new settlers have already developed plans and mapped out the site, and are now working together with the core community at Homesh as well as the Samaria Regional Council. Several people who were evacuated from the original communities of Homesh and Sa-Nur also number among them. “We came here now with the new core community members, and from here, we will issue our uncompromising message to the Prime Minister – that we oppose the evacuation and the Disengagement, and that we now have the opportunity to correct the wrong that was done if we are enabled to renew the community here,” Benny Gal, who was among those evacuated from Homesh, said.
MK Ariel Kallner supports the return to Sa-Nur: “We came here to rebuild, and that’s what we’re going to do. This community must be rebuilt. The Disengagement was a disgrace, an anti-Semitic law that forbade Jews to live in the Land of Israel, and it should be erased from the statute book.”
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, who was himself evacuated from the original community, has already appealed to the government to allow the settlement of the site. He welcomed the return of settlers to Sa-Nur, saying, “I will do what I can to encourage you and your strong determination. The harsh images of our friends who were driven away from here, dragged along the ground by police and soldiers, simply because they wanted this place to remain under Israeli control, will never leave us. We will return to the communities of northern Samaria – Ganim, Kadim, Homesh, and Sa-Nur – because this is the right thing to do, especially as by now, there is not a single person in the country who still thinks that it was right to evacuate these places.”
Sa-Nur was evacuated during the 2005 Disengagement, together with Ganim, Kadim, and Homesh. Ever since, a campaign has been waged, headed by Yossi Dagan, to renew the settlements, and in the last seven years, a number of bills have been submitted to cancel the Disengagement from northern Samaria. On several occasions, attempts were made to reestablish settlements, and their plans have been supported by Knesset members, ministers, and community leaders, who have also visited the area to protest the evacuation and demand that the communities be reestablished.