Israeli settlers return to Kadim in West Bank two decades after evacuation

A new group of Israeli settlers has moved into Kadim in the occupied West Bank, two decades after the settlement was evacuated by a previous Israeli government. The return took place on Thursday at a ceremony attended by senior Israeli officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the Speaker of the Knesset. The move marks a significant development in the long-running dispute over Israeli settlements in the territory.

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According to the regional settlers' council, 30 "pioneer families" arrived from Tel Aviv. They came in small groups, some under military escort, with trailers carrying bedding, furniture and building material. White trailer homes had recently appeared on the hilltop in preparation for the families' return, and the settlement was reopened with a national ceremony.

Media access to the site was restricted during the event. Kadim sits on a small hillside outside the Palestinian city of Jenin. It was evacuated in 2005 under Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, which also saw all Jewish settlers and soldiers withdrawn from Gaza and three other settlements in the northern West Bank dismantled.

At the time, the settlements were considered too isolated and costly to protect, and of limited strategic value. The return now places Kadim back at the centre of a politically sensitive issue that has shaped Israeli-Palestinian relations for decades. The reopening is also notable because it comes amid a broader push by the current Israeli government and settlers' councils.

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Smotrich described the return as a correction of what he called the "crime of expulsion" from northern Samaria, using the Biblical term for the northern West Bank. Alongside him at the ceremony were Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Yossi Dagan, head of the regional settlers' council. Dagan said settlers would one day return to Gaza as well.

Settlement activity in the West Bank remains one of the most contentious issues in the conflict. The area has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, and most of the international community considers Israeli settlements there illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. Moves to re-establish or expand settlements are often viewed by Palestinians and many foreign governments as deepening Israeli control over land that Palestinians want for a future state.

The scene at Kadim also reflects the changing political climate inside Israel. The presence of senior ministers at the reopening ceremony suggests official backing for a project that would once have been seen as reversing a major policy decision. The return of families to a site evacuated under the disengagement plan is likely to be read by critics as a signal that the government is willing to revisit earlier withdrawals rather than treat them as final.

For Palestinians living nearby, the development has immediate local implications as well as wider symbolic weight. The settlement lies close to Jenin, an area that has seen repeated tension and military activity in recent years. A Palestinian vegetable farmer living nearby told reporters he had watched Kadim being built when he was a boy and then watched it being evacuated again, underscoring how the site has remained part of the lived landscape for generations.

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What remains unclear is how far the return to Kadim will go beyond the initial arrival of families and trailer homes, and whether further construction will follow. It is also not clear how the move will affect relations with nearby Palestinian communities or whether it will prompt any formal response from Israeli or international actors. The development is likely to be watched closely as a test of the government's approach to settlement policy and the future of the northern West Bank.

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