According to Aljazeera (bottom of article), since the start of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising), “2988 Palestinians and 905 Israelis have been killed.”
For this debate, I make the assumption that Israelis want peace and security, and do not want the utter annihilation of the Palestinians, nor do they aspire for world domination. If you do not agree with this, please start your own debate or take it to the pit.
The uprising can best be characterized by continuous acts of terrorism (or rebellion) by a variety of Palestinian groups. Each of these acts is in term retaliated by Israel.
I contend that the Intifada has made life worse for the people of Palestine. My reasoning for this is as follows: [ul]
Attacks on civilians inside of Israel led to check points. I continually hear sob stories of how disruptive these check points are to the every day lives of Palestinians. Employment, hospitals, and schools are often on the other side of a checkpoint and thus have to be crossed.
Attacks on checkpoints cause them to have increased security, or be closed. When they’re closed many families are divided, and then access to vital services are lost.
The attacks are planned and staged from inside the various refugee camps. Thus retaliation for attacks require military action inside the refugee camps leading to civilian death and infrastructure damage.
Resisting the military retaliation inside the refugee camps further increases the severity of the military operation, which in tern leads to civilian death and area damage.
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The worst example for this was a new report showing how hard life is for Palestinians, focussing on the new wall Israel is building. One Palestinian after another recounted a horror story of trying to pass through a check point. One man went on and on about how his wife was pregnant and they wouldn’t let them pass to get to the hospital on the other side. All you could take from this story was hatred for the brutal tactics of the Occupying Israeli forces.
The next day there was an attack on a checkpoint. This attack came in the form of a woman. The woman pretended to be pregnant, screamed and cursed to be let through to get to the hospital. She then collapsed and cried for help. When approached by Israeli forces she detonated several pounds of explosives killing herself and the soldiers.
This situation had two effects: It obviously closed that checkpoint for a couple of days, again trapping Palestinians on one side or the other. But more significantly, it meant that for that point on “pregnant women had to be treated as potential bombs.”
So for debate: tell me why the various militant organizations shouldn’t surrender completely and why
