UK opposes relocation of ‘illegal’ outpost evacuated as part of Gaza disengagement plan

The UK has urged Israel to “honour” its commitments regarding an illegal outpost in the West Bank which was evacuated in 2005 as part of the Gaza Disengagement plan. 

“The UK opposes Israel’s decision today to allow the relocation of the illegal outpost in Homesh. Israel must honour recent commitments made in Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh and uphold the commitments Israel itself agreed and signed in 2004,” a spokesperson said.

The statement came after a new yeshiva was constructed near the evacuated settlement outpost of Homesh on Monday, with the approval of the Israeli government.

The IDF also lifted a previous ban on settlers residing in Homesh, which paved the way for the construction of the new yeshiva. The construction was praised as “historic” by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the leader of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan.

“This is a historic moment, we are a few steps away from correcting the terrible injustice of the deportation in Homesh. Since the expulsion we have been working day and night to rectify the injustice that is not only personal to the expellees but to the entire people of Israel,” Dagan said.

Energy Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) also backed the move, telling Army Radio: “The Jewish presence (in Homes)] to the extent that it can be on state-owned land is an important and legitimate endeavour.”

Homesh was one of four settlement in the West Bank that were evacuated as part of of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza Disengagement Plan in 2005. Since then, settler leaders and far-right politicians have fought to allow for settlers to return to Homesh and to legalise.

Like other settlements outposts, Homesh is illegal according to both international and Israeli law.

The United States also condemned the “troubling move”, calling the construction of the yeshiva “inconsistent with both former prime minister Sharon’s written commitment to the Bush administration in 2004 and the current Israeli government’s commitments to the Biden administration.”