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.
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.”
“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.”
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Evacuation of a synagogue in Samaria, 2005
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
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.
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.