Shikli: "The expulsion was one of the most disastrous moves for the Jewish people"
Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Shikli toured northern Samaria with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan. They visited Homesh and the new settlement of Emek Dotan, where the Israeli flag is once again flying over the ancient fortress.
Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Shikli toured northern Samaria together with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, visiting Homesh and the new settlement of Emek Dotan. During the visit, the two stood at the foot of the ancient fortress in Homesh, on whose roof the Israeli flag is once again flying.
Yossi Dagan, who returned to live in Homesh 21 years after being expelled as part of the disengagement plan, shared with Shikli the oath he took on the day of the expulsion. He recalled that after the expellees were removed from the fortress roof, they committed to fighting for the return of settlements to northern Samaria and raising the Israeli flag once more.
"It was exactly 21 years ago," Dagan recounted. "We all stood together... and then I said that we commit that we will fight and return to Homesh and to the settlements of northern Samaria and raise the Israeli flag back over the fortress."
Pointing to the flag, Dagan told the minister: "This is the oath. We were privileged to fulfill it." During the visit, Shikli recited in the settlement's synagogue the blessing of "He who sets the widow's border" (Matziv Gvul Almanah), which is traditionally said upon seeing new settlements being built in the Land of Israel.
Later, the minister visited the Ancient Samaria National Park, whose development is being promoted by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and other government bodies.
"The expulsion was one of the most disastrous moves for the Jewish people," Shikli said in Homesh. "Only Oslo exceeds it in disaster, because it is the disaster that paved the way for this."
The minister added: "It was very moving for me, as someone who served here in the sector, in Ganim and Kadim, as a fighter in Golani, to return here for the first time and recite the blessing on the renewal of Jewish settlement in northern Samaria."
