Twenty years after its evacuation, the settlement of Homesh in the northern West Bank opened its first kindergarten on Sunday, marking the first such reopening in communities dismantled during Israel’s 2005 disengagement.
In March 2023, the Knesset passed a law canceling the disengagement in northern Samaria. While the legislation did not grant immediate approval for permanent communities, it removed legal restrictions on Israeli presence. Since then, Homesh has developed rapidly, with dozens of new buildings, an expanded yeshiva, and 20 families now living there. About 50 students attend the yeshiva, and 20 children are enrolled in the new kindergarten.
The opening ceremony drew West Bank residents, officials, and members of the original community. Among them was Ayala Levi, who had served as the kindergarten teacher before the 2005 evacuation. “The disengagement is dead. Am Yisrael lives,” declared Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan. “This is a sweet victory for the people of Israel and Zionism. Justice always comes—even if it takes 20 years.”
Earlier this year, the security cabinet quietly approved the establishment of 22 settlements across the West Bank, including the reconstitution of Homesh and Sa-Nur, another community evacuated in 2005. Following the reopening in Homesh, settlers say they now aim to rebuild Sa-Nur as well.
“This is the first kindergarten in Homesh, the first in the communities uprooted during the disengagement,” Dagan told attendees. “There will be many more kindergartens here—Homesh will grow into a major city in Israel. We will also see kindergartens in Sa-Nur, and one day again in Gush Katif.”
Education Minister Yoav Kisch sent congratulations, calling the event a moment of “planting new roots of education and future” in Homesh. “Opening a kindergarten here is not only an educational step—it is a Zionist act of settlement and renewal,” he said. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a staunch supporter of settlement expansion, also praised the move as “a symbol of rebirth and life in the heart of Samaria.”
Levi, the former teacher, described the reopening as deeply emotional: “I taught here for five years, starting with five children and ending with 25. The evacuation was very hard. I never imagined I would return to this kindergarten.”
The new kindergarten teacher, Atara Rubin, added: “For years, we came here with the children in tents during holidays and Shabbat. Now, opening a government-recognized kindergarten is a great privilege. This will be the sweetest place in the world.”
Homesh’s revival has been pushed forward under the current right-wing government despite international criticism. The community is working on an official master plan under the Samaria Regional Council.
Plans to evacuate the site resurfaced after a 2021 terror attack near Homesh in which yeshiva student Yehuda Dimentman was killed. Then-defense minister Benny Gantz intended to dismantle the outpost, sparking mass protests that drew 15,000 participants. Ultimately, the evacuation was halted.
Since then, Dagan and Smotrich have lobbied extensively for Homesh, bringing dozens of Knesset members and ministers to the site. In late-night standoffs, settlers clashed with military officials over bringing caravans to Homesh. Despite legal hurdles, the caravans were eventually installed, paving the way for reconstruction.
With Homesh now formally moving forward, many are preparing for a return to Sa-Nur as well, approved quietly by the cabinet alongside 21 other new settlements earlier this year.