The United States should break ties with Israel.

My opponent is at pains to paint a picture of Israel as a modern, liberal and progressive nation, and for most Jews and some Arabs, daily life in Israel might not be any more oppressive than it is for the citizens of civilised nations in the West. However, that is not true of those poor, unfortunate residents of the Occupied Territories. Under international law "all peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development" (1) yet these rights are not extended to non-Jews living in Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinians do not control their own land borders, ports, maritime area, or air space (in any case, the Israelis destroyed their only airport). Indeed, Israel even blocks humanitarian aid to Palestine Palestinians pay income and corporation tax, but not to the Palestinian Authority, it goes direct Israel (and they often keep this money as a 'collective punishment' for attacks on the Israel military launched by Palestinian militants). The International Labour Organisation annual report of the situation called for the lifting of restrictions on movement, employment and economic activity, in order to increase opportunities for decent work. (2) Palestinians are not permitted to travel outside Palestine without the express permission of Israel and they do not even have the freedom of movement within Palestine. Human Rights Watch (HRW) 2102 report (3) stated that "Israel maintained onerous restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank, especially in Area C, which is under exclusive Israeli control. It maintained more than 520 checkpoints and other closure obstacles as of July." Palestinians continue to be the victim of Israeli land grabs with the ongoing construction of the Apartheid Wall: 85% of the barrier"s barrier's route falls within the West Bank, placing many Palestinian settlements on the 'Israeli' side of the wall. The barrier has also led separated many Palestinian farmers from their land. In addition, illegal Jewish settlements continue to be expanded on Palestinian land in the West Bank. Furthermore, as of November 2012, Israeli authorities had demolished 467 Palestinian homes. Settlers also continued to take over Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, based in part on laws that recognize Jewish ownership claims there from before 1948 but bar Palestinian ownership claims from that period in West Jerusalem. The HRW 2102 report also stated that "Israeli forces regularly shot at Gaza residents up to 1.5 kilometers from the armistice line between Gaza and Israel, creating a no-go zone that comprises 35 percent of Gaza's agricultural land, according to the UN." Palestinians do not have the same protection of the law that Jews have. The HRW report further observed "The Israeli government generally took no action against Israeli settlers who destroyed or damaged mosques, homes, olive trees, cars, and other Palestinian property, or physically assaulted Palestinians. In January a settler shot and killed a 15-year-old boy near the Palestinian village of Safa; in September a settler killed an 8-year-old Palestinian boy in a hit-and-run incident near Hebron. As of October 31 the UN reported 377 attacks by settlers that damaged Palestinian property, including almost 10,000 olive trees, and injured 167 Palestinians." These abuses bear all the hallmarks of a pariah state. So even though Jews in Israel and in the illegal settlements in the West Bank are treated with decency and respect, the inhumane subjugation of Palestinians means that Israel must be deemed to be a rogue state and treated as such by the United States of America. Thank you (1) http://www.unpo.org... (2) http://www.ilo.org... (3) http://www.hrw.org...