“Thirteen years since the expulsion, 13 years of complete darkness in the razed Jewish settlements of Homesh, Sa-Nur and Kadim. Tonight, we turn on the light in Sa-Nur once again. We say: This place still belongs to us, we are committed to this place and to all the area around it.” This impassioned speech was delivered by Knesset member Shuli Moalem-Refaeli of HaBayit HaYehudi, on the ruins of the West Bank Sa-Nur settlement that Israel demolished in 2005. Sa-Nur was demolished as part of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, which included the disengagement from four West Bank (north Samaria) settlements. Some 200 former residents of Sa-Nur joined Moalem-Refaeli, arriving at the site under cover of darkness on July 24.

Moalem-Refaeli explained that Sa-Nur was chosen for the symbolic event because it was the farthest and least accessible of the four destroyed settlements. The effort to get there illustrates the settlers’ determination to resettle this land, she explained.

HaBayit HaYehudi lawmakers are hoping to nullify the 2005 Disengagement Law, the legal framework for the evacuation of Jewish settlements, also called the eviction-compensation law. The bill set out the compensation to those evicted from their homes and banned them from returning to the area, which was declared a closed military zone. The settlers who took part in the recent protest at Sa-Nur thus violated the law, with the support of Knesset members Moalem-Refaeli and Bezalel Smotrich.

Opposition Knesset member Saleh Saad, from the Zionist Camp faction, urged the Knesset Ethics Committee to punish the lawmakers who violated the law and caused 200 extreme right activists to do so as well. Anyone violating the law should be jailed for two years, he said, adding, “We are at a time of heightened security sensitivity, and such action could ignite a clash that would endanger many lives.” Smotrich responded derisively, “I’ve already spoken with my brother who lived in Sa-Nur and he promised to have Knesset member Saad over for coffee at his home once we return there.” The return to Sa-Nur, Smotrich added, “will be the first step toward our return to the settlements of the Katif bloc,” as the 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza were collectively called.