Yossi Dagan is an Israeli grassroots community organizer. [1]
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Yossi Dagan is the leader of Homesh First. Homesh First is a grassroots organization dedicated to resettling and rebuilding Homesh. [2] Homesh First was formed after the homes of the Jewish residents of Homesh were razed and Jewish community was evicted as part of Israel's disengagement in August 2005. [3] The Christian Science Monitor quoted Yossi Dagan (at that time only the future leader of Homesh First) warning that by these actions, "You'll be creating a terror state that would threaten most of the country with Qassam [missiles]." [4]
Before he became the leader of Homesh First, Yossi Dagan was a resident of the former Israeli settlement of Sa-Nur. [5] At Sa-Nur he was a resident of the community as well as the spokesperson for the Sa-Nur community until September 2005 when its residents were evicted and IDF soldiers began dismantling Sa-Nur as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan [6] He commented on the burial of Sa-Nur's synagogue as an act of "desecration." [7]
Yossi Dagan has been very active in actions of civil disobedience as a method of protesting the Disengagement Plan. There are two recent events in Israel that Yossi Dagan helped to organize which have impacted the debate on the status of Homesh in Israel. The first major effort Yossi Dagan organized was the 2007 Yom Ha'atzmaut march to Homesh. As a result thousands of Israelis marched to Homesh. During Sukkot of the same year, Yossi Dagan organized a pilgrimage to Homesh. Many former residents and sympathetic Israelis camped out on the grounds where Homesh resident's houses were demolished. [8][9]