On Sunday, Israeli ministers reopened the Sanur settlement in the occupied West Bank , which had been evacuated 20 years ago, in a move accompanied by statements rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state and calls for the return of settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said: "On this special day we celebrate a historic correction of the illegal expulsion process" from the West Bank.
He added: “We are eliminating the shame of separation, burying the idea of a Palestinian state, and returning to settlement in Sanur.”
Smotrich, a settler who lives in a settlement near the city of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, called for the re-establishment of settlements in the Gaza Strip as a “security belt” for the State of Israel.
Sanur, a Palestinian village located southwest of Jenin in the northern West Bank, was evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel’s “disengagement” policy, which also saw Israel withdraw from the Gaza Strip and three settlements in the West Bank.
The current Israeli government, which is among the most right-wing in the country's history, has agreed to rebuild the four settlements in the northern West Bank that were evacuated in 2005.
The authorities approved the construction of 126 housing units in Sanur alone.
A number of ministers and members of the Israeli Knesset participated in Sunday's ceremony.
Images showed a cluster of white prefabricated houses lined up on a green hill.
Israeli media reported that 16 families moved into the settlement that was re-established in recent days, including the family of Yossi Dagan, head of the council of settlements in the northern West Bank.
Dagan was among those evacuated from Sanur in 2005 during the disengagement plan.
“Today, we are making history,” Dagan said after cutting the ribbon. “For me, both nationally and personally, this represents the end of an era.”
He added: “We have sworn: Sanur, no more uprooting, no more withdrawals. We have come back to stay.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank in settlements that the United Nations considers illegal under international law, amidst some three million Palestinians.
The current Israeli government has accelerated the pace of settlement expansion by approving the construction of 54 settlements in 2025, a record number, according to Peace Now.
More than 100 settlements have also been approved since the current government came to power in 2022.
