21 Years After It Was Destroyed In Disengagement, Ganim Settlement Is Reestablished

Families returned to the former settlement of Ganim on Thursday, nearly twenty-one years after it was evacuated as part of Israel's 2005 disengagement, formally reestablishing the community. The return follows a recent Cabinet decision to legalize dozens of settlements and reflects broader Israeli plans to reverse aspects of the northern West Bank disengagement.

Mobile homes were transported to the site to house returning residents, and a branch of the Bnei David educational institutions, affiliated with the Eli pre-military academy, was opened at the location.

The Ganim reestablishment is part of an effort to restore four communities evacuated from the northern West Bank in 2005. Homesh and Sa-Nur are also being resettled, while Kadim is expected to be reestablished soon. Completing these moves would effectively reverse the northern West Bank component of the disengagement.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attended the ceremony and characterized the return as correcting what he termed a historic injustice. "Twenty-one years after the terrible sin of the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria, we are finally erasing the disgrace of the expulsion from northern Samaria," Smotrich said. He thanked the Bnei David institutions, rabbis, activists, and returning families involved in the effort.

Smotrich announced plans for 11 new communities to be established this summer, with ultimate plans for 18 communities across Samaria. "Instead of the four [evacuated communities], there will be 18 communities, 11 of them immediately, including Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim," He said. "And there is more to come."

The finance minister framed the expansion as both strategically and ideologically significant, arguing that Jewish communities in northern Samaria provide security benefits for central and northern Israel. "Samaria is ours," Smotrich stressed. "It is an inseparable part of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel, the security belt of the State of Israel." He added that strengthening West Bank communities would protect Israeli towns: "When we are in Ganim, there is security in Afula, Harish and Hadera."

Smotrich stated the government's settlement policy also aimed to prevent Palestinian statehood. "We are strengthening the security belt, killing the idea of a Palestinian state and making clear that the Land of Israel is ours forever," He said.

The reestablishment occurs amid heightened tensions over Israeli settlement activity and violence in Samaria, and follows a four-day blockade of the Palestinian village of Qusra by extremist Israeli activists, which drew international condemnation. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned the rioters, referring to them as "Israeli terrorists."