After the Israeli Knesset recently approved the current right-wing government's decision to cancel the "disengagement", the return of settlers to the evacuated "Homesh" settlement has become legal for the occupation and a matter of time. It mediates between the village of Burqa, north of Nablus, and the town of Silat al-Dhahr, south of Jenin.

This decision would pave the way for the legalization of more outposts and settlements in the vicinity of the vital road between Nablus and Jenin, and thus severing the geographical connection between the two governorates, and accordingly the occupation achieves its efforts to establish settlement in the northern West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority, in turn, condemned the decision, while the United States of America, the European Union, and a number of Arab countries condemned it. This decision cancels the plan of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005, to evacuate four settlements in the northern West Bank (Ghanim, Kadim, Homesh, Sanur) in conjunction with a unilateral withdrawal. side of the settlements of the Gaza Strip.

Murad Shteiwi, director of the North Directorate in the Commission for Combating the Wall and Settlements, said in an exclusive interview with Al-Quds.com: "The occupation's ambitions in the Qubaybat area did not stop even after the decision to evacuate the Homesh settlement on which it sits, as it was declared a military zone."

Shteiwi asserts that the positions of the Commission and the Palestinian political leadership are consistent with the vision of our people, which rejects all forms of settlement, indicating that there is full readiness to continue organizing popular marches to prevent the return of settlers to that area.

The occupation had controlled an area of about a thousand dunums of agricultural land for citizens since 1978 in order to establish this settlement, as it stole lands estimated at (900 dunums) belonging to Cyrenaica, which is considered the biggest loser, while it seized (50 dunums) from the lands of Silat al-Dhahr. .

After declaring the "disengagement" and evacuating the settlement at that time until now, the occupation army allows settlers to visit this area under the pretext of the existence of a religious school, and in return prevents the original land owners from returning to it for reclamation and cultivation, and closes this area by force of arms.

And as soon as the current right-wing government was formed, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it issued a decision to legalize 9 new settlement outposts, and to endorse the project to cancel the "disengagement" and return to settlements in the northern West Bank.

Later, Netanyahu was forced to clarify his decision after criticizing the United States, stating that the extremist government he leads will not build new settlements in the northern West Bank, adding in his statement that "the Knesset's decision to cancel parts of the" disengagement "law puts an end to discriminatory and humiliating legislation that prevents settlers from Living in the areas of the northern West Bank, which are part of our historical homeland.

Shteiwi added, "We will work with all our strength, whether in terms of popular resistance or legal support, to prevent the passage of this dangerous decision, which is related to the strategic area that mediates the governorates of Nablus and Jenin, and the return of settlement to it means separating the two governorates from each other."

It is worth noting that, after years of waiting for the people of Burqa village to recover their confiscated lands, they were able to obtain a decision from the Israeli Supreme Court in 2013, enabling them to access their lands for reclamation and cultivation and banning Israeli entry to them, without realizing that the court’s decision would not be applied to the land.

In 2021, Cyrenaica and its surroundings witnessed repeated attacks by settlers, who wreaked havoc on it and destroyed the property of defenseless citizens, while the villagers formed human shields to protect their homes and property, and there are many martyrs, wounded and prisoners during the battle to defend the "Qubaybat".

Subsequently, the Knesset decided to intensify settlement expansion in the area, so that settlers' attention would return to the evacuated settlement and promote it as an area for teaching the origins of the Torah, after a settler was killed and others were injured in its vicinity in mid-December of that year.

Shteiwi clarifies that the Israeli occupation usually does not need justifications to control Palestinian lands, because it robs them of force of arms and orgy, in addition to racist legislation aimed at facilitating settlement and land confiscation.

He added: "The occupation government, which is a tool for implementing settlement plans and a main supporter of the Settlement Council, has taken the killing of a settler as a pretext to revive the idea of returning to the evacuated "Homesh", with the new name "Chummash" outpost, in order to establish the religious school that paves the way for the return of settlement in the area. Al-Qubaybat is surrounded by military points and checkpoints, with the aim of securing settler marches to it from time to time.