Court tosses indictments against Israelis charged with entering illegal outpost

At the request of prosecutors, a court has thrown out indictments against several Israelis charged with entering a wildcat outpost in the West Bank following the partial repeal of a law making it illegal to stay there.

Rabbi Elishama Cohen, who heads a makeshift yeshiva at Homesh, was indicted along with other rabbis and students at the religious cemetery for violating the 2005 Disengagement Law ordering the evacuation of four settlements in the northern West Bank as part of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

In March, the Knesset rolled back part of the legislation as part of efforts to legalize the outpost at Homesh, which activists have repeatedly tried to reestablish since it was evacuated. The new law only applies to the area around Homesh and the other three settlements.

In light of the change, the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court has ordered the closure of the cases against Cohen and the others.

The decision is hailed by lawyer Moshe Polski of the far-right legal aid group Honenu, who represented the defendants, and the dean of the yeshiva at Homesh.

“Along with our happiness over the cancellation of the Disengagement Law, we still expect the yeshiva to soon be regulated,” Shmuel Wendy says in a statement.

The decision was also hailed by Yossi Dagan, a member of the ruling Likud party who heads the Samaria Regional Council where Homesh and another settlement that was razed as part of the Disengagement are located.