Israel does not have the Right to Exist

The question that I propose is often brought up within the context of Israeli/Palestinian debates: Does Israel have the right to exist? To clarify, the question is not whether Israel does exist as a state, but rather if Israel should have the right to exist based on its historical and religious ties. Note: It is not my intention to insult anyone whose view conflicts with mine. My sole intention is the encouragement of intellectual conversation regarding a controversial topic. I will be challenging the position that Israel has a right to exist based on its historical and religious ties to the area. I will argue that, in fact, Israel does not have a right to exist by explaining that Israel's position is based on flawed genetic and political concepts that undermine any rational reasoning in affirming its right to exist. Let me begin by first introducing Israel's right to exist. I will be using a speech that was given to the Knesset in 1977 as the basis for the belief in Israel's right in existence. "Our right to exist--have you ever heard of such a thing? Would it enter the mind of any Briton or Frenchman, Belgian or Dutchman, Hungarian or Bulgarian, Russian or American, to request for its people recognition of its right to exist? Mr. Speaker: We were granted our right to exist by the God of our fathers at the glimmer of the dawn of human civilization four thousand years ago. Hence, the Jewish people have an historic, eternal and inalienable right to exist in this land, Eretz Israel, the land of our forefathers. We need nobody's recognition in asserting this inalienable right. And for this inalienable right, which has been sanctified in Jewish blood from generation to generation, we have paid a price unexampled in the annals of nations." [1] The right to exist, therefore, centers on the belief that the ancestors of the present day citizens of Israel were granted this particular piece of land at the dawn of civilization. Furthermore, this right is exclusive to the Jewish people by being passed down by blood through generations, which constitutes an inalienable right to exist on this particular piece of land for all eternity. Essentially, this argument can be presented as two fundamental concepts: (1) historical ties, and (2) exclusivity by blood. I will first address the concept of historical ties. According to the Old Testament, the United Kingdom of Israel was established in 1020 BCE with Saul as its first king [2]. While Jewish tribes existed before this time, this is the first Jewish kingdom to be established in this area. It is irrelevant as to whether or not this kingdom actually existed. What is accepted as fact by the Jewish people is that Babylon destroyed and annexed the kingdom of Judah [3]. This began a process that involved the conquering of the Palestine area by several kingdoms with the final state of Israel being conquered by the Romans in 63 BCE. There has been no Jewish state until 1947, when the UN created the modern state of Israel. Israel exists – yes, but the mere fact that it does exist does not imply a right to exist. There is no international law that requires an acknowledgement of a state's right to exist. Either a state exists and is recognized by other states as a sovereign entity with international borders, or a state is not recognized as a sovereign entity under international law [4]. This concept of a right to exist is quite novel. Whether Israel can establish a factual link between the historical past and its present day state is irrelevant if there is no right to exist under international law. A similar example is the Native American population that clearly inhabited North America before the arrival of the Europeans. Shouldn't they then be allowed to reclaim vast portions of North America in the same manner of Israel? I will now address the concept of Israel's jus sanguinis policy. Israel claims that they are the descendents of the original inhabitants who were promised the Palestinian land by their god. Through this ethnicity and bloodline from the original inhabitants, the Jewish people have an inalienable right to this land. Can this claim even be verified? Is it even possible to verify ones DNA to their ancient ancestors? "Some genetic studies suggest that Jewish populations show substantial non-Jewish admixture and the occurrence of mass conversion of non-Jews to Judaism. In contrast, other research points to considerably greater genetic similarity among Jewish communities with only slight gene flow from their respective host populations [5]. These conflicting scientific studies do prove one thing – there is currently no answer accepted by the scientific community. Using unsubstantiated scientific claims in terms of a bloodline link to previous ancestors amounts to nothing but hearsay. Before going in depth on these issues, I await my opponent's response to the claims of blood relations and historical ties. [1] - "Statement to the Knesset by Prime Minister Begin upon the presentation of his government- June 20, 1977", Volumes 4-5: 1977-1979, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affair [2] - http://www.mfa.gov.il... [3] 2 Kings 25:22-24 [4] http://www.un.org... [5] http://www.pnas.org...