MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
For decades, Israeli settlers lived in the Gaza Strip, protected by soldiers. Twenty years ago, Israel evacuated them. And today Israelis wonder if that paved the way for the October 7 Hamas attack and if Israel should resettle Gaza, as Itay Stern reports from Tel Aviv.
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ITAY STERN, BYLINE: These were the scenes Israeli TV broadcast 20 years ago. Israeli settlers screaming at soldiers evacuating them from their homes in Gaza. I was there, too, as a young journalist with an Israeli newspaper. I was embedded with Israeli troops carrying out the disengagement. That was the initiative of the Israeli prime minister at that time, Ariel Sharon, removing some 8,000 settlers from Gaza.
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STERN: The scenes were chaotic. Israeli settler families were weeping. Soldiers were carrying children out of their homes, and young kids were running to the beach to get away from them. Esther Kaufman Yahi (ph) was a proud 13-year-old Jewish settler in Gaza at that time.
ESTHER KAUFMAN YAHI: (Through interpreter) It was an amazing place to grow up - playgrounds, green spaces, a close-knit community - but always under fire. We rode in armored cars. But we knew why we were there, to protect Israel's borders.
STERN: She says the evacuation was an expulsion.
KAUFMAN YAHI: (Through interpreter) I was in seventh grade. I stood in a circle of soldiers trying to explain to them what a mistake they were making. Eventually, they carried us out. The trauma stays with you all the time.
STERN: In 2005, Israel uprooted the settlements and soldiers from Gaza after years of Palestinian attacks. Most of the attacks were carried out by Hamas. Just two years later, Hamas fought a battle for power with its Palestinian rival and took control of Gaza by force. In response, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza that continues to this day.
KAUFMAN YAHI: (Non-English language spoken).
STERN: Kaufman Yahi says, "we gave up the territory and it became a hornet's nest. If Jews had stayed in Gaza, I believe October 7 would not have happened." Dov Weissglas was Prime Minister Sharon's closest aide. He helped plan the disengagement.
DOV WEISSGLAS: In the long term, the Israeli national interest is not to be in Gaza. Every single casualty in Gaza, whether it's a soldier or a settler, it's a waste.
STERN: Weissglas says at that time, Israeli officials were afraid Hamas might one day take over Gaza. But he argues keeping settlers in Gaza would've been worse.
WEISSGLAS: Without the disengagement from Gaza, I'll tell you what would happen. Those 7,000 good Israelis who lived in the heart of Gaza, they would face October 7, not in 2023, but in 2008.
STERN: A poll by an Israeli newspaper this summer found around half of Israelis support reestablishing settlements in Gaza. Weissglas says that will not happen.
WEISSGLAS: It's not serious. I don't think that we have now - have the manpower, the means, the energy, the resources now to allocate so many soldiers.
STERN: While Israel argued that removing settlers from Gaza saved lives, it helped Hamas promote itself among Palestinians as the group that defeated Israel. Yohanan Tzoreff is an Israeli expert of Palestinian affairs.
YOHANAN TZOREFF: They began to talk about the resistance as the main power in the Palestinian arena because the resistance is the power who pushed out Israel from Gaza.
STERN: After Israel left Gaza and Hamas took control there, Hamas spent years firing rockets at Israel and fought several wars with Israel. Tzoreff says Israel also has responsibility for years of violence in Gaza.
TZOREFF: Since 2009, there is governments in Israel that disagree to make any kind of compromises. And they used to say it approximately every day that there is no way to make peace.
STERN: Throughout the Gaza war, some Israeli leaders have called for Gaza to be resettled by Jews. Netanyahu says it's not realistic. But many former Gaza settlers, like Esther Kaufman Yahi, have hoped they could return to what they call home.
KAUFMAN YAHI: (Through interpreter) My children know that one day we'll go back. I still keep a bottle of sand from there. The idea is to scatter it when we return home.
STERN: Israelis are divided on whether that is the right move after the Gaza war or whether it's a dangerous fantasy.
For NPR News, I'm Itay Stern in Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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