Suspicion: Palestinians burned holy Jewish books at Homesh
Dozens of Talmuds, bibles, prayer books defaced at unauthorized yeshiva
located in evacuated West Bank settlement; Minister Edelstein demands
permanent structure, adequate protection for Jewish students
Efrat Weiss YNET Published: 07.02.09, 08:50 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3740174,00.html

Police suspect that Palestinians defaced and burned holy books at a yeshiva
located on the grounds of the evacuated West Bank settlement of Homesh.
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"The sight was awful," the yeshiva's dean, Rabbi Elishamah Cohen, told Ynet.
"Dozens of holy books - Talmuds, bibles, and prayer books - were almost
completely burned."

Police have launched an investigation, but no perpetrators have been
detained as of yet.

Homesh was evacuated during Israel's unilateral withdrawal from parts of the
West Bank in the summer of 2005. Since then, right-wing activists have made
repeated attempts to rebuild the settlement, and every once in a while IDF
forces arrive at the site to evacuate them.

About a dozen people have returned to Homesh to live and study in a wooden
structure housing a yeshiva. Several weeks ago, security forces destroyed
the yeshiva, but students have made use of a remaining courtyard of one of
the homes destroyed during the Disengagement.

It is suspected that Palestinians raided the yeshiva while its students were
visiting the nearby settlement Shavei Shomron. "It is evident that the Arabs
who torched the holy books did so meticulously," said Rabbi Cohen. "The
books were almost completely charred. We managed to salvage a few pages."

Yossi Dagan of Homesh First, the grassroots group planning to rebuild the
West Bank settlement, said "we demand that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
order the establishment of a large, official settlement in Homesh. This
should be the government's response to this national humiliation."

Minister of Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein (Likud) called on the
government to erect a permanent structure that will house the yeshiva and
see to it that the students are protected "so that such severe anti-Semitic
incidents will not repeat themselves".