10,000 March to Ganim, Kadim 21 Years After Disengagement

More than 10,000 people took part Wednesday in the Samaria March from Ganim to Kadim in northern Shomron, 21 years after both communities were evacuated under the Disengagement plan and a month after families returned to the sites. The march ended with a rally in Kadim attended by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strook, and MK Limor Son Har Melech. The event had been announced in advance as part of Chol HaMoed activities in the Shomron.

The gathering opened with Hallel at Noa, after which participants set out on the march from Ganim to Kadim. At the end of the route, a rally was held where the ministers and MK addressed the crowd.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said during the event: "This day is not only a correction of the past, it is above all building the future. Twenty-one years ago they destroyed communities here, and today we are returning to rebuild all of northern Shomron."

Marchers from Ganim to Kadim (Photo: Batya Shaaravi)

Dagan added: "Ganim and Kadim are only the beginning. Our vision is 19 new communities, thousands of new families, and a northern Shomron bustling with life, with education, employment, infrastructure and flourishing communities."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also addressed the return to the sites, saying: "It is moving to see the people of Israel arriving in their masses to the community of Kadim that was evacuated in the terrible expulsion, and to the new communities we established in this government. Settlement in Judea and Samaria is the security anchor for the residents of the State of Israel."

Ben Gvir added: "Where they uprooted, we return. Where they destroyed, we build." Referring to his future plans, he said: "As security minister in the next government, I will continue to strengthen settlement and dismantle the Authority that finances terror and tries to prevent the continued establishment of new communities, here in northern Shomron as well."

Settlement Minister Orit Strook said at the rally: "Baruch Hashem we merited to repair the damage of Oslo and the Disengagement and to lead a historic turnaround: 19 communities in northern Shomron, in place of the four communities that were uprooted. But this is only the beginning of the road."

MK Limor Son Har Melech addressed the repeal of the Disengagement Law in northern Shomron, saying: "This march is a clear statement: the people of Israel are returning to their land." According to her, "What we corrected in northern Shomron, with Hashem's help we will correct in Gush Katif and all parts of the complete Land of Israel."