Last update - 00:00 17/07/2007
Group defers rally at ruins of ex-settlement due to IDF build-up
By Nadav Shragai and Yuval Azoulay
Rightwing group Homesh First said Tuesday it postponed a march to the ruins of the evacuated West Bank settlement of Homesh planned to take place later in the day.
The group opted to defer the unauthorized event, marking two years since the former settlement's forcable evacuation by Israel Defense Forces as part of the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank pullout in 2005, because of increased police and army presence in the area.
It added that the march would be rescheduled to Tisha Be'av next week, a symbolic date on the Jewish calendar as tradition holds both the first and second temples were destroyed on that same day, 655 years apart.
Thousands of participants were expected to take part in the event, each carrying a brick that he or she bought for NIS 18. Members of Homesh First said they would attempt to erect a synagogue and remain at the site.
Confrontations with security forces were anticipated, as no permit was issued for Tuesday's action, in contrast to the previous march to Homesh, which was organized by the Yesha Council.
Meanwhile, a Gush Katif group, headed by former Neveh Dekalim resident Tzion Ohayan, is planning to try to reach the ruins of Nisanit, the former Gaza Strip settlement, on Thursday of next week.
They will be joined by MK Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) and Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu. Ohayan told Haaretz that the campaign is modeled on that of Homesh First.
"We have coordinators in deportees' camps like Nitzan, and with the Kfar Darom deportees," Ohayan said.
"The idea of returning is very popular with the young people who were evacuated, less so with the adults who are absorbed in the battle for survival.
Nisanit is the closest place to the current border so it's relatively easy, and we'll make our first attempt next week. It's possible there will only be a few the first time, but the circles will expand with each attempt, just like with Homesh.
The idea is to put the issue on the public agenda and to make it clear that it's not a fantasy, that it is real," Ohayan said.