Last update - 00:00 15/07/2007
IDF mulls legal action against organizers of Homesh march
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
The security establishment is contemplating legal action against right-wing activists who are organizing a march on Tuesday to the site of the former settlement of Homesh, which was evacuated in Israel's 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.
The lawsuit under consideration stems from the fact that the organizers have not coordinated the march with the Israel Defense Forces or with police.
IDF sources estimate that five to eight thousand people, from 13 different right-wing organizations, will try to reach Homesh Tuesday - two years after the settlement was evacuated.
The activists have declared their intention to rebuild homes on the site of the former settlement. The lawsuits are intended to cover army expenses for protecting and eventually evacuating the activists.
The IDF has threatened to sue the activists in the past, but has never actually done so. However, some activists that returned to Homesh in the past have been questioned by police after breaching a military order that prohibits entrance into Area A - territories that are controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
A military official said that the issue was raised in discussions between military prosecutors and army and police representatives.
According to the source, every time the activists organize a return to Homesh, it costs the IDF roughly NIS one million.
"We are forced to allocate troops in training, bring buses to evacuate the activists, transfer a large number of troops from place to place and prepare tow trucks to tow cars and set up road blocks. Somebody forgot that all this costs money and someone needs to pay for it. Tax payers should not have to shoulder the burden of these expenses," the source said.