WALA: Import using Buildship doesn't work

I see here that .classpath and .project files are now considered generated. However, once I generated these files, I was able to import as an existing Eclipse project. This is typically how we work with maven projects in Eclipse, i.e., we generate the Eclipse metadata files once using m2e and then commit them to the repository.

I saw this note here:

Note: a pristine WALA source tree is not pre-configured as a group of Eclipse projects. Using the standard Eclipse “Existing Projects into Workspace” import wizard will not work correctly. You must use the “Existing Gradle Project” import wizard instead.

Is there a reason this doesn’t work correctly? Typically, since the Eclipse metadata mentions the Gradle builder, Buildship should take over to build the projects once they are imported as “existing Eclipse” projects.