Gibraltar ought in justice to be returned to Spain

Final Rebuttals1. Deceleration of Unity My opponent seems to believe that the Deceleration of Unity between Gibraltar and the UK represents nothing in international law. In a way he is right as it does nothing to debunk the Treaty of Utrecht, however with more analyzing of the situation the Declaration poses a serious problem for Spain. If Spain were to press their claim on Gibraltar, the decision on Gibraltar's fate would default to the Gibraltarians and not the UK's government due to the fact that the Deceleration of Unity states that Gibraltar "is neither Spain's to claim or Once given the option of independence from the UK, Gibraltar has made it clear that they would prefer to remain an overseas territory of the UK. So unless Spain decides to press their claim on Gibraltar by military force, which is highly unlikely, Gibraltar is going to remain with the UK. 2. Hypocrisy of Spain The question here is in the situations of conquest, who has the better claim? The conqueror or the defender? In nearly all situations the answer would be the defender, unless the conqueror is reclaiming lands that they lost. The conquests of Cueta and Melilla are no exception to this rule. It is important to note, that despite my opponents claims, Morocco was indeed a country at the time of the conquests, just under the rule of the Wattasid dynasty [1]. Therefore Morocco has a very strong claim on Cueta and Melilla. I would also like to clarify that the conquests were not even in the name of Spain, but for Castille [2]. Does this mean that Spain has no claim whatsoever on the cities of Cueta and Melilla if they were not the ones to conquer them? In my opinion, yes, however it is likely that not everyone shares my opinion on this. As for the argument that Cueta and Melilla are "false parallels" to the situation in Gibraltar, I would beg to differ. In both situations the nation that formerly owned the region in question are attempting to regain the now colony (and yes Cueta and Melilla are colonies [3]) and are facing resistance from the nation that now holds said colonies. However, in this case Morocco has a much stronger claim on Cueta and Melilla than Spain has on Gibraltar because Spain conquered the two cities from Morocco while Gibraltar was given to the UK via the Treaty of Utrecht. 3. Independence Referendums4. CitizenshipI am going to combine these two arguments as they are really the same argument just under different context. The argument about you claiming my house as your own is, shall I say, a false parallel. This is because the UK has been in Gibraltar for over 300 years while you have been in my home for approximately fifteen seconds (hypothetically). Also, I would like to state that the people who have the strongest claim on Gibraltar is not Spain or the UK, but it is the Gibraltarians who live there. Given that they have stated, through Independence Referendums, Decelerations of Unity, applications for citizenship, etc. that they want to remain with the UK shouldn't their opinion be respected. If you would like to define this in political terms, you could say that Gibraltar is pressing its claim on Gibraltar to remain with the UK. Economic Reasons3. ComparisonI believe that my opponent has misunderstood my original argument. I am not saying that it is bad to be poor, I am simply saying that it is in the Gibraltarians best interest to remain within the UK because they do not want to be placed into a dreadful economic situation. While you may be right that this bears no legal status within the decision of independence from the UK, it is important to register that is one more reason for why Gibraltar does not want to join Spain. Cultural Reasons1. Gibraltar is BritishUpon further investigation on the matter, I would like to conclude that both of us are wrong on this matter. While British English is the national language, the vernacular is called Yanito which is a mix between Andalusian Spanish and British English. For food, Gibraltarians have influences from a unique mix of British and Mediterranean influences [4]. In conclusion, Gibraltar is about evenly mixed with British and Spanish influences and therefore my argument is essentially worthless. Sources[1] http://en.wikipedia.org...[2] http://en.wikipedia.org...[3] http://www.examiner.com...[4] http://www.everyculture.com...