A full 300 Border Police officers, accompanied by Civil Administration inspectors and heavy machinery, raided the Sde Yonatan and Or Meir homesteads in Binyamin early Tuesday morning, around 4:00 AM, and destroyed all the buildings there, including residential houses.
Among those demolished was the home of the Rom family, who married a month ago and are leading the development of the site along with a group of young men, in the hopes of absorbing new families.
In addition to the residential houses, the forces also destroyed sheep pens on both homesteads, and confiscated large quantities of equipment, including a solar panel array that provided electricity to the residents.
The homestead was established about a year and a half ago, east of the town of Michmas, and currently uses 2,500,000 square meters for agriculture and grazing. The homestead is part of a series of Israeli farms stretching from Kochav Ya'akov in Binyamin to Hamra in the Jordan Valley.
Or Meir is located on a ridge between Ofra and Givat Asaf, and boasts two flocks of sheep and 2,000,000 square meters of agricultural land.
"What happened here this morning is madness on every scale," residents declared. "Arab terror strikes every day everywhere in the country, a terror attack occurs in Tel Aviv, and Jews are slaughtered in Samaria - but instead of ensuring the return of long-lost security, the defense system, under Minister Gallant's orders, sent its best officers this morning to demolish settlements."
"A security and political leadership that, in the midst of a war, cannot distinguish between a friend and an enemy cannot stay in their position for even a minute if we wish to stay alive. And to those who sent the destruction forces this morning, we are here to clarify: No matter how many harassments and prosecutions we go through, the homestead will remain steadfast and stronger than ever, and the battle against the Palestinian Authority's takeover of the area for the establishment of a Palestinian state will not stop for a moment.''