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Doesn't the continued violence from Gaza prove, clearly, that giving land to the Palestinians will not deliver any sort of peace for Israel?

They say: Israel is today again at war in Gaza. Doesn't the continued violence from Gaza prove, clearly, that Americans for Peace Now and others are wrong in arguing that giving land to the Palestinians will deliver any sort of peace for Israel?

We say: The current violence in Gaza and southern Israel does not discredit the notion of exchanging land for peace. Rather, it further demonstrates the foolishness of the notion that Israel can substitute unilateral withdrawal - with conditions of that withdrawal dictated by Israel - for a withdrawal from territory negotiated with a legitimate Palestinian partner who agrees to the terms of the withdrawal and accepts its responsibility to uphold and maintain agreed-upon post-withdrawal arrangements and coordination mechanisms.

Even before the "disengagement" from Gaza took place, APN - which had long called for an end to Israeli settlements in Gaza - warned of the dangers of a unilateral withdrawal. We warned that by refusing to negotiate (or to at least effectively coordinate) the withdrawal with the newly elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - whose election platform centered on re-starting peace negotiations - Israel would undermine his credibility and deliver a public relations coup to Hamas. We warned that under such circumstances, Hamas would likely gain more power and popularity in Gaza. But then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was adamantly opposed to negotiating the withdrawal with Abbas, and the result was seen clearly in the 2006 Palestinian elections that catapulted Hamas to power and set the stage for the current situation. Today Israel is forced to grapple with precisely the unintended consequences of which we warned in 2005.

More broadly speaking, exchanging land for peace - allowing the Palestinians to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza - is vital if Israel is to survive as a Jewish, democratic state. Simply stated, today there are 11 million people living between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River; Jews comprise about half that number, and Israeli experts predict that by the year 2020, Arabs will outnumber Jews by 20%. In this reality, if Israel continues to control the West Bank and Gaza, it can continue to be a Jewish state only by continuing to disenfranchise the Palestinians. But this is not a realistic option, both because it conflicts with Jewish values and because the international community will not tolerate a long-term situation in which such a large population - eventually the majority of the population of the area - is disenfranchised. While we all find comparisons to Apartheid-era South Africa distasteful and inappropriate, there is no doubt that such comparisons will increase if things continue as they are.