Knesset speaker: ‘Our mission is to repeal the Disengagement Law’
Right-wing politicians are particularly concerned that without such a repeal, northern Samaria territory would not be included in any sovereignty drive over West Bank settlements.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFThe basic error is to treat all the settlements alike(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS)
Right-wing politicians vowed to repeal the 2005 Disengagement Law during the 21st Knesset as it applies to the four settlements that the IDF destroyed that summer in northern Samaria.“It will be our mission in the 21st Knesset to repeal this legislation,” Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said. “I think we will find more than a little support for this initiative.”It was a pledge that was underscored Thursday by a visit 10 parliamentarians, including Edelstein, made to the ruins of the Homesh settlement, with its orange water tower that has been symbolic of their battle.Right-wing politicians are particularly concerned that without such a repeal, that northern Samaria territory would not be included in any sovereignty drive over West Bank settlements. The Union of Right-Wing Parties has made the law’s repeal one of its coalition demands.Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, an evacuee from the former Samaria settlement of Sa-Nur, has been one of the leaders in the battle to repeal the law.“Thirty out of the 35 Likud parliamentarians support a repeal law [for disengagement], as do a majority of the ministers,” Dagan said. “The ball is in [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s hands. The time has come to correct this injustice... In northern Samaria, it is possible to do so because the settlements have remained in Israeli hands. I call on the prime minister to lead this initiative.”In 2005, the IDF uprooted the northern Samaria settlements of Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim. It also destroyed 21 settlements in Gaza.Since the 2005 Disengagement, the left-wing group Yesh Din successfully appealed to the High Court of Justice to restore the land of Homesh to its Palestinian land owners. It has since petitioned the court to force the IDF to allow them access to the land. Upon hearing of Thursday’s visit, the group called for the Palestinian landowners to be allowed access to the land.The politicians who participated in the visit, Yesh Din said, are promoting “annexation” and an “apartheid” regime.
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