JERUSALEM (JTA) — The land on which the northern West Bank settlement of Homesh was built will be returned to its Palestinian owners.
Israel’s Justice Ministry late last week informed the nation’s Supreme Court that the original 1978 military order seizing the land for an army base that was never built would be rescinded and the land returned to its owners.
Palestinian landowners in 2010 filed a petition with the Supreme Court to have the land returned to them.
Homesh was one of four West Bank settlements evacuated in August 2005 along with the settlements in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip.
The homes in Homesh were destroyed, but the land was kept for military purposes as a closed military zone along with the former settlements of Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim.
Since the evacuation, settlers and their supporters have held rallies in Homesh and have expressed a desire to rebuild the settlement.
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