TEL AVIV, Israel — For decades, thousands of Jewish settlers lived in the Gaza Strip, protected by soldiers. But in the summer of 2005, the Israeli government made a historic decision to withdraw them all.

The Israeli prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, pushed through the unilateral withdrawal as part of a "road map" for peace advanced by what was known as the Middle East Quartet : the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

Today, 20 years later, Israelis are fiercely debating whether that decision ultimately paved the way for the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel — and whether Israel should reestablish settlements in Gaza, as some ministers in the current government propose.

Then and now, Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories have

See Full Page