Israeli Military Signs Order Allowing for Return to Illegal West Bank Settlement

The Israeli Defense Forces Central Command signed an order on Thursday allowing the entry of Israelis into an area of the West Bank containing the illegal outpost of Homesh. The move paves the way for the building of a government-approved settlement where the outpost stands.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also has authority over civilian issues in the West Bank in his role as a junior minister in the Defense Ministry, shared the order approving entry on social media Saturday night.

“We promised to authorize the continued Torah study at the yeshiva in Homesh, and we are fulfilling that,” he said on Twitter.

Homesh was first established in 1978, partially on private Palestinian land. In 2005, Israel passed a law ordering the evacuation of Israelis from Homesh as well as three other settlements in the northern West Bank. Since then, activists have consistently attempted to rebuild the settlement, despite its status as illegal under Israeli law.

In March, the government repealed the law ordering the evacuation from the four settlements, without yet allowing Israelis to return.

The anti-settlement group Yesh Din condemned the order to allow Israelis’ reentry. “The entry of Israelis into the area is another tool to dispossess the residents of their lands,” it said in a statement.