The final stage of the withdrawal from these areas will be the dismantling of the Menashe Brigade Headquarters at the Dotan Camp, scheduled for tomorrow.
A month ago, the Palestinian Authority para-military forces in the region were enhanced by the addition of some 700 armed men - said to be in preparation for Israel's abandonment of the area. Israeli security sources are now expressing concern that terrorist activity in the area will increase. Two Israeli communities, Dotan and Hermesh, are located in the area.
The Hamas terror organization has announced plans to step up its terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria (Shomron), concentrating on independent and well-trained cells perpetrating high-casualty attacks.
The northern Shomron area will now be closed to the entry of all Israelis, but will remain under Israeli security control.
"The army completed removing everything it could from the area," reported Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler, "taking away all its watchtowers and electronic equipment and the like, as well as burying the synagogue in Sa-Nur. The army will continue its patrols in the region, but will not enter the communities that were destroyed."
Finkler reported that on Monday, Arab terrorists fired from within the area at a house in Ram-On, which lies on the pre-'67 side of the Green Line.
In other security news, it has now been confirmed that hundreds of rifles and much ammunition were transported from Egypt into Gaza last week, under the noses of Egyptian and PA security forces. So said IDF Intelligence Research Chief Brig.-Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today. He said that it is also possible that anti-tank rockets were brought in. He said, however, that long-range rockets such as Katyushas and Strellas were not smuggled in, and that the "balance of power" in Gaza was not disrupted.