isreal vs gaza

I will begin my final argument by clarifying what I mean. I do believe that Israel has a right to exist as a state of all its citizens within the 1967 borders. However, there is no such nation as Isreal, as in Is and Real. This is what the title of this debate refers to and the Pro refers to this nonexistent nation throughout the debate as well as the State of Israel.As to the rocket issue, I have never contended that the rockets are not dangerous, all I have contended is that only 1 in 575 rockets launched over a ten year period caused a fatality. And it is clear that such a minor threat does not warrant such a massive retaliation causing more casualties than these rockets could ever cause. During the 50 Day war, roughly 1,939 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military, 1,700 of them are believed to be civilians. Meanwhile the number of deaths from rocket and mortar attacks for the entire year of 2014 was six. There is simply no justification for this at all, especially given that the actions taken by the State of Israel as “retaliation” amount to massive war crimes. While the rocket fire is itself also a war crime, it is a comparatively less serious war crime than the mass murder and targeting of civilian areas, the use of chemical weapons like white phosphorous and the collective punishment on citizens of Gaza. As to the issue of rocket attacks on the West Bank, while there are 3 known instances where rockets fired from Gaza landed in the West Bank, the number of rockets fired FROM the West Bank is zero, and this is what I referred to in my last argument. The pro does acknowledge that the specific reasoning for the 50 Day War was the retaliation for the killing of three Israeli settlers in the West Bank, however he says that this is perfectly legitimate, when in fact it is not, as the kidnapping and murder took place in the WEST BANK, not in Gaza, which Israel attacked. There is simply no link which justifies this argument.While it is true that there are, or rather were, tunnels from Gaza going into Egypt and a smaller number going into Israel, the characterization of these tunnels as “terror tunnels” is rather disingenuous. While it is true that the tunnels were used in the capture of Gilad Shalit in 2006, the only other time the tunnels were used to facilitate paramilitary operations was during the 50 Day War in 2014, and the attacks were all on Israeli military outposts, which, under the Geneva convention, are considered legitimate military targets. Therefore the Characterization of these tunnels as “Terror tunnels” does not align with the reality. The reality is that the main purpose of these tunnels is smuggling. Due to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, and the strict restrictions on anything going into Gaza, the tunnels have served as a way to bypass the blockade, allowing everything from toys to weapons to illegal drugs to enter Gaza. Prior to the 50 Day War, the tunnels were the only thing which allowed for the economy of Gaza to operate. Since then, the economy has been unable to recover as Israel has made it nearly impossible for building materials to enter Gaza, which in turn makes rebuilding efforts inside Gaza impossible. The Pro mischaracterizes the situation in Gaza, stating that there are multiple groups who run gaza, this is false. While roughly a dozen armed paramilitary groups do operate inside the Gaza strip, there is still a political administration, run by members of Hamas who were elected during the 2007 election. There is a police force, and civil court system and other basic forms of civil authority. The issue is that due to the blockade, communication and coordination with the National government in the West Bank is impossible and thus no elections have been held since 2006. It is not the lack of political control that causes the poor state of the economy in Gaza, but the blockade which has made it impossible to conduct trade or business and thus it is difficult for many in Gaza to find work.And while the blockade may have been formally implemented in 2006, prior to then Gaza was declared a “closed area” by the Israeli authorities, which meant that entry into Gaza was banned unless you were an Israeli soldier or settler. The firing of rockets had begun prior to the withdrawal from Gaza in 2006, but continued afterwards to fight back against the blockade, and as a part of a broader armed strategy to force Israel to leave the West Bank and East Jerusalem and allow for the creation of a Palestinian State.In conclusion, in this debate I have demonstrated that the State of Israel is not justified in its actions against Gaza. The pro has contended that the rocket fire from Gaza justifies retaliation against Gaza, however these rockets seem to mostly harm strawmen, as the fact is that these rockets are not actually as dangerous as the Pro would like to have you think, especially when compared to the capabilities of the Israeli military. The Pro a case which lacks coherence, evidence and grammar, and is riddled with fallacies, inaccuracies, and statements which are plainly untrue. The pro tells you to google what he says, however you cannot go an entire debate without providing any evidence and then tell people to google your claims in order to give them legitimacy. I have provided sources throughout this debate, which support my claims and have relayed the facts provided by them to you along with analysis of these facts, as one is supposed to do in a debate. The fact is that the Pro’s case does not align with the facts and if he cannot provide evidence to support his claims they cannot meet the burden of proof. Thank you and Vote Con.http://www.btselem.org...https://www.theguardian.com...http://www.aljazeera.com...http://www.timesofisrael.com...http://interactive.aljazeera.com...http://www.al-monitor.com...