Jerusalem should become an independant city state

Let me first get something straight: I do not live in Israel. I am not a Jew. I don't even have any particularly close friends who are Jewish. I'm just getting that out of the way first since I get the feeling from your response that you think I am Israeli Jew. I am not. #1: You say that losing Jerusalem would not make Israel more vulnerable since it still has American backing and nuclear weapons. First of all, even with US help it would still be harder to defend since it has less land. Not to mention that the taking of Jerusalem was one of the hardest parts of the of Israeli war of independence since it's surrounded by angry Arab villages, so having Jerusalem at the start would give Israel a decent advantage. Also, the US-backing thing could end soon. The new generations are quite anti-Israel (Source: https://cdn.static-economist.com... ) so when the older people de and the young people are in charge the future US government might stop backing Israel, and what then? Besides, you also complain about imperialism in your answer in point #5. Surely an anti-imperialist such as yourself would support encouraging Middle-Eastern nations to rely less on the US? About the nukes, since the nation most hostile to Israel (Iran) is backed by Russia, a nation with the world's biggest nuclear arsenal, it would be unwise of Israelis to start deploying nukes due to MAD. #2: Again, Iran is backed by Russia, making Israel's nuclear arsenal basically a non-element due to MAD.You also mention Israel's military is the best equipped in the region. I accept this, however it's military is still smaller than Iran's meaning the Iranian's could overpower it through force alone. Not to mention Iran is also backed by both Russia and China who could both send weapons and Israel's equipment doesn't mean much. #3: So you concede this point? Good to know. #4: I can't really argue with this. However, this is only an alternate possibility. Either way the Jews were still there before the Palestinians, the Christians and the Muslims. There is actually no proof of a Palestinian people up until the last century or so. Also, Jordan is 70% Palestinian. They already have a homeland. #5: In Israel, the law is colorblind. Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews have the same rights. They share schools, hospitals and public transports. There is no segregation. Arabs can be part of the Israeli judiciary, parliament and military. You can't say the same about any other Middle Eastern country, just look at Egypt with its Copts and Iraq with its Christians. Right now, how many Jews live in Palestine? 0. How many Arabs live in Israel? Over a million. Which state do you think has a bigger ethnic cleansing problem? East Jerusalem is currently very dangerous and if a Jew goes through it they need to be guarded from attacks, when an Arab goes into West Jerusalem there's no problem. Surveys have shown that 78% of Palestinians have positive or mixed feelings about Osama bin Laden, 89% support anti-Israeli terrorism and 89% support Sharia Law. Israel isn't perfect but no country is, and from what I've seen Palestine has done much more bad things. You forgot to mention that prior to 1967 there were still many Palestinian terror attacks,and that the occupation of those areas you mentioned where in response to an act of aggression by the Arabs and they withdrew afterwards. #6: I didn't say that Israel owned Jerusalem because it was mentioned in the Bible, I said Israel owned it because Jerusalem is as key to Judaism as Mecca is to Islam and the Vatican City is to Catholicism. Both of those sites are under control of people from that respective religion, as they should be! Tell me, is New York central to the American's religion? No? then the comparison is non-existent. By the way don't worry about offending me, I don't get offended. #7: Releasing Jerusalem won't stop the fighting, since both sides still claim the entire area so the fighting won't stop. In response to your question: 1. Israel may have done some bad things in that conflict I admit, but so did the Arabs and even beforehand there were still Palestinian terror attacks, and since then the terrorism has continued. The only thing stopping Israel's major cities and airports being destroyed by the Palestinian missiles is Israel's Iron Dome Defense System and the civilian settlements in the West Bank. The IDF does more to safeguard civilian safety than the military of any other nation ever to exist. Israel is a decent, Western, democratic nation. Israel is as peaceful as Belgium, every war it's ever partaken in was in response to an act of Arab aggression. Judaism presents it's believers with a great moral code that makes it's devout followers want only the best for others. It's army is mostly made of civilians itself! During the 2014 Gaza War,millions of leaflets were dropped, texts were sent, radio messages broadcasted and tens of thousands and phone calls made just so Palestinian civilians knew which areas where to be bombed so they could escape in time. Name one other time in history an army has phoned its enemy to tell them where the bombs would be dropped. In order to prevent civilian casualties, many IDF missions were dropped leading to much higher risk for the Israelis. But since every war is confusing, chaotic and full of mistakes of course some civilians ended up dying. But unless you count mistakes as war crimes, none of them were war crimes. Compare that to Hamas which has war crimes as government policy by hiding weapons in hospitals and schools and placing rocket launchers near civilian housing and forcing civilians to stay in areas about to be attacked and forcing civilians to report all Palestinian deaths as civilian casualties, even if they were actually fighters and even if no-one actually died! Pallywood is the term for the staged accidents Hamas created in order to make Israel look evil. 2. Kind of covered that in 1.. 3. Israel did, but the Arabs didn't and since the Arabs aren't holding up their end of the deal Israel is under no obligation to uphold theirs. 4. How many Jews there are in the world has nothing to do with their claim to Jerusalem. Christians outnumber Muslims, does this mean that Mecca is a Christian site? Jews were there before Christians and Muslims, Christians and Muslims only care about Jerusalem because the Jews were there first. Jerusalem is the heart of Judaism in the same way Mecca is the heart of Islam and the Vatican is the heart of Catholicism. Now, I have some questions for you: 1. Do you agree that tourism is an unreliable way to sustain an economy? 2. Do you accept that having the UN control Jerusalem would be a nightmare? 3. Do you accept that the Arabs have been the aggressors in every single Arab-Israeli conflict? 4. Do you accept that Israel is a much more liberal, democratic nation than any of its enemies? 5. Do you accept that Russia and China would side with Iran in the event of a war between Iran and Israel? 6. Do you accept that Israel's army is mostly made up of civilians? I look forward to seeing your answers!