In a historic and emotional step toward renewing Jewish communities in northern Samaria, the town of Ganim will be reestablished this Thursday—21 years after it was uprooted and destroyed as part of the 2005 disengagement plan. The Samaria Regional Council announced Monday that a pioneering group of families will move onto the land this week, renewing the Jewish presence in the evacuated town. The reestablishment is being led by the Samaria Regional Council in close cooperation with the Amana movement and a division of the Ministry of Defense.
1+Alongside the families moving in, a new branch of the Bnei David yeshiva from Eli will be established in the renewed community. The new Torah institution will operate in the town and serve as a central and integral part of solidifying the settlement and strengthening the Jewish presence in northern Samaria. The families’ return to Ganim comes just days after the emotional groundbreaking of the new settlement Emek Dotan in the area, where 22 pioneering families have already arrived.
Emek Dotan is the fifth community the Samaria Regional Council has established in less than a year, part of a massive building surge in northern Samaria. The historic move comes after a stubborn 21-year battle to repeal the disengagement law and return to the evacuated communities. The fight was led by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, together with the “Homesh First” activists, members of the Homesh yeshiva, and evacuees from Homesh and Sa-Nur who refused to give up on their homeland.
1+The current move comes about a year after a decision by the Political-Security Cabinet led by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. It’s part of the expansive “Reconnection Plan” being led by the Samaria Council, which includes establishing 19 new communities in northern Samaria as part of the “Million in Samaria” initiative. Ganim was one of four communities in northern Samaria evacuated in the 2005 disengagement, along with Kadim, Homesh, and Sa-Nur.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan blessed the move with emotion, saying it represents a historic correction of the injustice of the disengagement. Dagan emphasized that instead of uprooting, they are now building, and instead of withdrawal, they are bringing pioneering resettlement—noting that the people of Israel are coming home. Ganim nucleus chairman Alon Kotzki added that there is tremendous excitement and a strong desire to help among the large families who are leaving their comfort zones and enlisting in this important national mission.