Northern residents still waiting to return yearn for home, but bearish on future

As many residents of southern Lebanon return home, the mayor of the northern city of Shlomi says Israelis are continuing to stay away from the border region for now.

“As of now, there’s no plan to return home,” Gabby Neeman tells Army Radio. He  complains that there is no compensation being offered to residents for their losses, and no government commitment to invest in rebuilding the community.

“Nothing is happening,” he says.

Neeman, who was among several northern leaders to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the government’s approval of the US-brokered ceasefire, says he left the meeting with the feeling that fighting would return eventually.

“Everything we were shown testifies to the fact that the next round is ahead of us, whether in a month, two months or 10 years,” he says.

Ruti Yidan, an elderly Kiryat Shmona resident who was forced to leave her longtime home by the fighting, fights back tears as she tells Channel 12 news of her desire to return.

“I’m not young, and I want to be at home,” she says. “And I hope we can return with full security.”