Palestinians in Gaza Grapple With Prospect of Israeli Presence Postwar

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Cease-fire talks in the Gaza Strip have stalled again, in part over Israel’s demand to retain a military presence in the territory, which Hamas and Egypt oppose. But the view among some Palestinians in Gaza on that point is less clear-cut.

Their lives have been devastated after almost a year of war and they say they find the idea of Israeli soldiers staying on — and of the checkpoints becoming permanent — disturbing. But if that helps bring an end to the war, it is a price they are willing to pay. Other Gaza residents expressed serious misgivings about allowing an Israeli military presence in Gaza, and some opposed it outright.

“Of course I do not accept the presence of checkpoints on our return to the north,” said Mohammad Qadoura, 40, who was displaced from his home in Gaza City. “But if this would lead to the end of the war, I would reluctantly agree.”

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Abdul Aziz Said, 33, a social worker from central Gaza, said that if an Israeli presence in the territory was “what it takes to end this war, I would totally agree.” He added, “I want this war to come to an end now and at any cost.”

Israel has said that the presence of its soldiers in Gaza after a permanent cease-fire is necessary to prevent Hamas from regrouping and weapons from being smuggled across the territory. In particular, Israel wants some Israeli troops to patrol part of the Egypt-Gaza border because it believes Egypt has not done enough to prevent Hamas from smuggling arms. And Israel believes that having Israeli troops within Gaza would aim to prevent Hamas fighters from going back en masse to regroup in the northern part of the enclave.

The latest high-level effort to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza ended on Aug. 25, with Israel and Hamas, the group that governs the enclave, remaining far apart on several critical issues. One of those, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, is whether Israeli forces will remain on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, and if so, how many.

This has emerged as a crucial issue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel considers an Israeli military presence in the area, which Israel calls the Philadelphi Corridor and Egypt calls Salah Al Din, vital to preventing Hamas from rearming after the war or rebuilding tunnels to Egypt.

Hamas rejects a continued Israeli presence in the area and is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Egypt says that keeping Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor would raise national security concerns and be unacceptable to the Egyptian public.

Additionally, Israeli forces have built a security road, which they call the Netzarim corridor, that cuts across Gaza from east to west. Israeli officials have said they want troops to keep patrolling that road, through which Palestinians must travel between the north and south of Gaza. While the negotiators haggle over the terms of a cease-fire, nine Palestinians in Gaza said in interviews with The New York Times in recent days that they were mainly concerned about getting home safely after multiple displacements and months of relentless bombardment.

Israel operates a number of checkpoints across Gaza that are often mobile and temporary. Many Palestinians say they fear that the checkpoints will become permanent or expand if a cease-fire deal is reached that includes the Israeli demands.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes after repeated Israeli evacuation orders and moved from the north to the south since the war began. For many, returning home could mean confronting Israeli troops and passing through the Netzarim corridor, where they could be subjected to searches, interrogations and arrest.

Even though growing numbers of Palestinians appear to fault Hamas for its role in starting the war and helping to bring death and destruction upon them, they blame Israel first and foremost.

Mohamed al-Sek, 44, a teacher and father of four from Gaza City who was displaced to central Gaza, said he was not concerned about passing through Israeli checkpoints or being searched.

He said that only those affiliated with Hamas should be worried. “My priority is to return to my home in Gaza City and restore my old life,” al-Sek said.

But Salah Gharbia, 57, who crossed a checkpoint across the Netzarim corridor while evacuating to central Gaza from Gaza City with his seven daughters without too much trouble a few months ago, said he was worried that other families with young sons could have a more difficult time at checkpoints “even if they are not Hamas.”

The continued presence of Israeli checkpoints in Gaza would just create “more obstacles and suffocating procedures for Palestinians,” he said.

But not all Palestinians were able to stomach the idea of Israel’s presence after the war ends.

“Arrests and oppression will continue,” Faten Alyan, 40, a housewife from northern Gaza, said of having Israeli troops and checkpoints in Gaza after the war. “The brutality of the occupation will confront us in a humiliating way.”

Nedaa Adel, 27, a therapist from Gaza City who was displaced to central Gaza, said she worried that Israeli troops could arrest her husband at checkpoints because she said he worked for the Hamas government but was not a militant.

“I want this war to end now, but not with this condition,” Adel said.

Najlaa al-Ghalayiny, 44, a social activist from Gaza City who now lives in a tent in an area Israel has designated a humanitarian zone after multiple displacements, said it would be difficult for Palestinians to accept the regular sight of Israeli soldiers near their homes.

A prolonged Israeli presence in Gaza “might be the first step of reoccupying” it, she added, referring to the years before Israel withdrew its decades-long military presence on the ground from Gaza in 2005.

Fadel al-Tatar, 47, said he believed that Israel wanted to “place its authority on Gaza,” in a similar way to what it had done in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli checkpoints and settlements are widespread.

“I am afraid of having more checkpoints in the future that will divide the Gaza Strip into pieces,” he said.

Still, al-Tatar said that if a cease-fire deal was reached, he would go back to his home in the north “without caring about the procedures the army can place.”

He said that many others would also do the same, “leaving behind their makeshift tents and painful memories.”

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