Israeli Settlers Aim to Rebuild Dismantled Settlements in Northern West Bank

There is a reason to take Israeli Defense Force claims about this week’s operation in Jenin with a grain of salt. It turns out that the environs of the town of Jenin once unwillingly hosted four Israeli settlements. The settlements—called Homesh, Sa-Nur, Kadim, and Gadim—were actually dismantled in 2005 as part of the agreement by which Israel evacuated the settlements in Gaza, but pressure has been building in the recent period to rebuild them. The 2005 law codifying the disengagement banned Israelis from moving back into the evacuated settlements but it hasn’t stopped illegal activities by settlers. In April, the ban was repealed by legislative act, though not implemented fast enough for the settlers.