| Homesh – We Return! |
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| Written by David Ha'Ivri | |
| Jul 21, 2008 at 08:51 AM | |
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Twice daily a special transport leaves one of the towns in the Shomron. The morning passengers are yeshiva students and rabbis on their way to a day of Torah study in the open air. The afternoon travelers will take their place guarding all night until the students return in the morning. There are no longer buildings or structures aside for the water tower that continues to supply the needs of the neighboring Arab villages. The path taken by the transport detours off the main road onto unpaved back roads shared only by local Arabs, who for their own reasons can not allow themselves to be stopped at the IDF checkpoint at the invisible line that marks the beginning of the area of Northen Shomron that has been declared Judenrein. Jews trying to access Homesh via the main road are simply stopped at the army checkpoint and not permitted passage. Even worse Jews stopped there on the way back, have been arrested by the Israeli police and charged with crossing in a closed military zone. The northern Shomron area was evacuated of Jews but not given over to the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli Army still controls the area. In the words of rabbi Dov Lior "These towns were destroyed and the residents were banished for no reason". Visitors to Homesh stand in the yards of demolished Jewish homes overlooking the Israeli shoreline from Gadera to Hadera and ask themselves "Why?" The night guards and day yeshiva study at the site of the ruins are part of the Homesh Techila (Homesh First) initiative, founded by a group of banished residents of Homesh and Sa-Nur living in the HaMegurashim trailer park at Shavi Shomron. They have organized the continuous Jewish presents at Homesh over the past full year. This they believe will lead to the re-building of their town and others like it. In the summer of 2005 twenty four Jewish towns in Gaza strip and Northen Shomron were raised to the ground by the Israeli government as part of the Disengagement program. For more information about volunteer duty and other ways to support the Homesh Techila please call Batya 052-605-1151 |
