In 1948, Israel was put back on the map, democratically.

As I expected, my opponent's conduct leaves something to be desired. However, he does agree with the resolution, despite the many false assertions he included simply as a form of mockery. I will not follow him down that slippery slope, but I will make factual arguments to affirm the resolution. To begin, I would like to share the quote that started this debate. " Germany is an indigenous, egalitarian, law-abiding nation; Israel is a state founded recently on the expulsion of Arabs from land European Jews wanted for a subsequently aborted experiment... Since then, Israel expanded through conquest." I then told my opponent he need to do a little more research before making statements like this. I NEVER called my opponent an idiot, as he claims. Furthermore, he simply implies what I do or do not dispute in his first round. Because these statements were well beyond the scope of this entire debate, I feel no need to address them as actual arguments. With this said, I will begin. My opponent makes the assumption that Jews are not indigenous to the land. This is absolutely false. Jews inhabited the land when it was called Canaan, and were uprooted by the Babylonian empire. They them returned several hundred years later, but eventually were discarded by the Romans after helping them build their economy. In fact, that very same land has been conquered and changed hands no less than ten times since the initial Jewish ousting. One could argue that all lands have been fought over at one time or another, but the bottom line is that Israelis are indigenous to the land of Israel, despite the fact they had been removed for an extended period of time. In the first half of the 20th century there were major waves of immigration of Jews back to Israel from Arab countries and from Europe. During the British rule in Palestine, the Jewish people were subject to great violence and massacres directed by Arab civilians or forces of the neighboring Arab states. Finally, in 1947 the UN agreed to the Partition Plan for Palestine. Keep in mind this was a British territory until this point. The idea was for two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem as an international city. The Jews accepted the UN resolution, but Arabs did not. Instead, they immediately attacked the Jews with a very sizable army. Although they were outnumbered and outgunned, they drove their attackers out, and declared their independence on May 14, 1948. Keep in mind, Jews were on the defensive, and never had any intentions to take more than was given, but their attackers would not settle for the democratic, lawful, division of the land mandated by the United Nations. The day after Israel declared its independence, armies of five Arab countries, Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq, invaded Israel. Again, let me reiterate, Israel did NOT attack anyone. They were again on the defensive, and again were severely outnumbered, but again they defeated their UNLAWFUL attackers. Israel was then accepted as a member of the United Nations by majority vote on May 11, 1949. Since its inception in 1948, Arab nations have joined forces and launched 4 full scale wars (All unlawful, mind you) on Israel, and lost each one. Unfortunately, as is the case in almost any war, lands were annexed, but after each war the Israeli army withdrew from most of the areas it captured. This is unprecedented in World history and shows Israel's willingness to reach peace even at the risk of fighting for its very existence. I believe the resolution is affirmed, and my opponent already stated, "In fact, his resolution has so little to do with the impetus for his calling me an idiot that, depending on the definitions, I might agree with it!" Since I NEVER called him an idiot, and we agree on the resolution, I urge a pro vote, and do not expect too many points of contention regarding my first round of arguments. Thank you for debating this, tomblikebomb, and thanks to the readers for your time and feedback. http://www.science.co.il... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://www.ifamericansknew.org...