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Israelis who left Gaza in 2005 want to return after the war is over

2023-11-26 18:30:10, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israelis who lived in the Gaza Strip settlements until 2005, when the Israeli army withdrew from the territory, are now planning to return there. Although the Israeli government has not expressed support for this move, as VOA Jerusalem correspondent Yan Boechat reports, many Israelis see Israel's war against Hamas as an opportunity to return to their abandoned settlements.

For thousands of Israelis who lived in the Gaza Strip until 2005, when they were forced to leave and Israel withdrew all of its forces from the territory, hopes of returning to their old homes after the end of the war between Israel have grown. and Hamas. The government of Israel has given no signals that their return to Gaza will be possible.

"You can see on the map how that area is still uninhabited. A good and large city can be built there, perhaps for the ultra-orthodox Jews who want to live there."

Anita Tucker was born in New York, but in the 1960s she moved to Israel and lived in the Gaza Strip for 30 years.

She was part of the settlers that the Israeli government sent to the Gaza Strip in the 1970s to develop the agricultural sector. Israel built about 20 settlements in Gaza, most of which were managed by religious groups.

Among them was Orna Fridman, who settled in the Gaza Strip in 1982, right after she got married. At that time many Israelis were leaving the Sinai Peninsula, after the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.

"Between 1982 and 1995, Gaza was a quiet, peaceful, beautiful area with a beautiful view of the sea and a very good place to live. People who came to visit us said that Gaza looked like a resort," she says.

But in the mid-1990s, she says the situation began to change. Violence became routine, especially after the first Palestinian uprising. Many Israelis living in the Gaza Strip say Israel's decision to engage in peace talks with the Palestinians was a mistake that changed their lives.

"The Oslo process and the Oslo accords of 1993, 1994 and 1995 were terrible. Gaza and Jericho were in the spotlight."

Debbie Rosen was the spokeswoman for the approximately 10,000 Jews who lived in the Gaza Strip until 2005. Most of them opposed Israel's decision to leave, prompting protests to erupt throughout their settlements in the Gaza Strip.

"We were evacuated from the houses in the Gaza Strip, 22 communities, 10 thousand inhabitants. We were forced to leave our homes," she says.

After leaving Gaza, Ms. Fridman settled in the West Bank settlement of Mevo Horon. She and other Israelis, who lived in the Gaza Strip until 2005, named streets in their neighborhoods after areas where they had previously lived. She and many others believe that God had given the Jews the land that they had conquered.

"If the Arab population is ready to understand that this is our land, our home and behave as good neighbors, we can live together. But they need to understand who owns this land."

Ms. Friedman says she is ready to return to the Gaza Strip as soon as that territory is controlled by Israeli forces. In her home, she keeps photographs and other memorabilia from life in Gaza. After moving from Gaza she planted an olive tree near her home in the West Bank.

Anita also has photographs and other things from life in Gaza in her house. But unlike Ms. Friedman, she has no hope that coexistence with the Palestinians will ever be possible again.

"It is not so good to kill them all. I told a German journalist that a more humane way would be to ship them to Germany. Where is the problem, you are too human, take all Palestinians. But, he answered, saying no, no."

Anita Tucker lives in a rural area in central Israel, where all the residents are from Gaza. She says they are already making plans to build new cities in the Gaza Strip after the war is over.

"We have started the work, we are talking with architects and people, who will study the maps to identify the old settlements and the areas where the new constructions will be made in the future", she says.

The Israeli government has not made statements regarding the intentions of settlers such as Orna Fridman, Anita Tucker, Debbie Rosen and others to return to their old settlements in the Gaza Strip. She did not give details about what will happen to the Gaza Strip after the end of the war with Hamas./ VOA