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Originally Posted by Oxcoug
It's always good to check in on CG to get a little of the usual comedy from Mike Waters. You may want to call Israel an "occupying nation" - but it doesn't match any precedent for that concept in history and it doesn't mean anything. It's just a rhetorical game you like to play.
No "occupying nation" in history has been surrounded by neighbors which are publicly committed to its destruction.
No "occupying nation" has ever gone to such lengths to avoid trampling on the "occupied" (like using rubber bullets while the "occupied" blow up school cafeterias and old people celebrating holy days). Or like giving its judiciary real review over the acts of its military - and frequently, substantively rebuking its military.
No "occupying nation" has voluntarily ceded away territorial gains - as Israel did with Gaza - and celebrated it as an act of national conscience.
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This is just silly. Of course they are an occupying nation. And of course it is a unique situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oxcoug
In the aftermath of that conflict Israel kept some of the territories it seized - and with good reason. Syria had used the Golan Heights to shell Israeli farms in the north. Syria demonstrated that it was committed to Israel's destruction, there was no way Israel could justify giving back that strategic position - and no way anyone other than a politically motivated hack would suggest that they should.
As for Gaza and the West Bank - Israel SHOULD give much of that back. Oh, wait, they already did give Gaza back. And they'd leave it alone to - if it wasn't repeatedly used as a base for terror operations against civilians.
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Gaza is a shit-hole. Always has been. There were only a few small Israeli settlements there. It is massively overcrowded and there is not enough water to support the population.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oxcoug
The West Bank is the ONLY area where any legitimate grievance can be claimed against Israel as an "occupier."
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Yes, and it represents the main bulk of the occupied territories, and has been the main point of our debate. What exactly is your point?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oxcoug
But until the Palestinians stop teaching their children that Jews are "apes and pigs", and showing "Greater Palestine" (i.e. - no Israel) in their textbooks, and stop enabling terror attacks on Israeli civilians there is simply no basis for a conversation.
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And thus the cycle continues.