BURQA, West Bank (AP) The Jewish settlement of Homesh, built on privately owned Palestinian land deep inside the occupied West Bank, was dismantled in 2005 and cannot be rebuilt. At least, that's what Israeli law says.
The Jewish settlement of Homesh, built on privately owned Palestinian land deep inside the occupied West Bank, was dismantled in 2005 and cannot be rebuilt at least, that is what Israeli law says.
When a group of settlers drove up to the site last week, they were waved through army checkpoints that were closed to Palestinian vehicles and arrived at a cluster of tents on the windy hilltop. There, dozens of settlers were studying in a makeshift yeshiva, or religious school.
Empty wine bottles and bags of trash stood out for collection, the remains of a holiday feast attended by hundreds
The ability of Israeli settlers to maintain a presence at a settlement dismantled in 2005 and now guarded by a detachment of Israeli soldiers, is a vivid display of the power of the settler movement nearly 55 years after Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.