A new generation of Israeli settlers has moved back into the Kadim settlement in the occupied West Bank, two decades after it was evacuated under Israel’s 2005 Disengagement Plan. Please confirm all political information with a trusted source.
According to the regional settlers’ council, 30 “pioneer families” arrived on Thursday, riding a wave of nationalist momentum encouraged by Israel’s current government. Many brought trailers stacked with bedding, furniture and building materials as they re‑established the hilltop outpost overlooking the Palestinian city of Jenin.
All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law, and settler outposts are also illegal under Israeli law though they often receive state support and services.
At the opening ceremony, far‑right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared:
“Twenty‑one years after the crime of expulsion from northern Samaria, we have completed the correction and have returned to the settlement of Kadim.”
He was joined by Israel’s Justice Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset, and regional settlers’ leader Yossi Dagan, who vowed that settlers would one day return to Gaza as well.
Kadim was one of four northern West Bank settlements dismantled in 2005 alongside Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza. In recent weeks, white trailer homes have reappeared on the hilltop in preparation for families to return.
Media were barred from entering the settlement during Thursday’s ceremony. But driving along a dirt track behind the site, a Palestinian vegetable farmer born in the nearby house 53 years ago described watching Kadim being built, then dismantled, and now rebuilt again.
“Back then, the settlers were living alongside us, and we coexisted peacefully. They lived their lives and we lived ours,” he said.
Now, seeing them return, he admitted he is fearful.
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