It takes more than one dove to make peace in the Middle East

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Maria Eugenia. This house does not
support a two state resolution for the undergoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Before I dive into my arguments, let´s take a look at what proposition has just stated.

REFUTATION…

Coming back to our case, our first speaker has already stated two of our three core
arguments. The first one assesses how the lack of consensus regarding the resolution makes
it obsolete. We have also given substantial evidence to support that the two state resolution
would have detrimental effects if applied. Given these arguments we will now come to our
last one: the perilous marriage of two conflicting nationalisms.
If you want to look at the partition of Israel´s and Palestinian territory let me tell you it´s
worse than Brad Pitt´s and Angelina Jolie´s divorce, while team proposition insists in
cinematically portraying the division of these lands with the tone of a mature Instagram
post we see when two celebrities break up. This consistent warfare state which has just less
than two weeks ago ceased fire from a crisis that infamously killed children as well as
civilians can’t be framed in such way. Thus, its resolution isn’t near a definite two state
proposition simply because the land has become indivisible and its tenants have become
uncompromising and relentless in their claims. It cannot therefore, deliver a plausible,
effective or democratic response to the conflict at hand.
To start laying the facts, our first speaker has made a case for why and how Israeli
authorities have since the Nation´s birth and continuing nowadays pursued a policy that
frustrated a two-state negotiation even though stating its endorsement. This is the strategy
mischievous two-year olds have when asked by their teacher if they did something bad.
Yet, as blatant as it seems the illegal settlements which are growing and thriving in the
West Bank and East Jerusalem have accomplished their endeavor. Today, the West Bank
has become an indivisible territory that precludes a just two state land division. Let me
walk you through some history to understand this better, when the Oslo accords were
signed in 1993 Palestinians felt that for the very first time their sovereignty was
acknowledged, with plans to formally obtain a two state solution by 1999. However, the
year after the accords, Palestinians began to witness a reversal of its policies. The same
Israeli government that signed the Palestinian entitlement to the West Bank and East
Jerusalem, tripled the settlements in the areas when the plan was to immediately interrupt
their growth.
42 years ago in 1979 the UN affirmed the illegality of the settlements and issued that the
they “constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace
in the Middle East.” Their warning has become a reality. This obstruction isn’t going
anywhere, these settlements aren’t tents on deserts they are developed communities with a
university and polo country clubs.
Even if the settlements could be dismantled, Israel has no intention of doing so as they keep
investing in these illegal houses for Israeli Jewish citizens. If this isn’t enough proof, in
1995 alone the Israeli government spent 600 million dollars on bypass routes that connect
the settlements with Israel. This routes have a big role on fragmenting Palestinian territory,
you just don’t spend those sums of money on an infrastructure you intend to put down.
It´s the actions of a government that count not the propaganda. You see the settlement
enterprise is primarily driven by the annexationist right, that surprise is the current´s Israeli
prime minister´s ideology. Their ever-expanding settlements were planned and established
since 1967 to make an Israeli withdrawal more logistically difficult and politically costly by
undermining territorial integrity. And they have won! Israel’s rightward political drift, the
growth of settlements, and waning public support for the two-state solution are all linked
and mutually reinforcing and have pushed Israel away from any kind of territorial
compromise.
As mentioned by our first speaker of course Israel wants to keep the settlement blocks. The
only problem is this would be massively disruptive to a future Palestinian state, they
encircle East Jerusalem and extend deep within Palestinian territory disrupting continuity;
they sit on Palestine´s main aquifers controlling the future´s state water resources.
Moreover, Israel said it wants to have sovereignty from the settlements to the Jordan
Valley, this would break up Palestinian territory on two or three pieces. As you see there´s
no way a sovereign and viable nation would come out of partitioning these lands least of all
annexing them into Israel as the proposed plan entails, and two-state negotiators know that.
That´s why the so-called “solution” hasn’t been able to draw any credible lines on the
maps.
The truth that I discovered and I urge you to see as well is that the Jewish settlers and
Palestinian residents have become intertwined with each other in a counterproductive effort
from both sides to exclude themselves in a land they both claim. The point of no return
forever seems to be on the horizon, when truthfully we passed that point long ago. This
train has left the station: settlers prevent the two state solution from happening.
Secondly, it´s also worthy to take in consideration that the two-state solution doesn’t
contend the vital federal arrangements not only about security but also about water, cell-
phone coverage, sewage, and countless other details of a common infrastructure.
Another issue the two-state solution completely disregards at the expense of human rights
violations is the right of return of Palestinians and their descendants to their homes in Israel
they were expelled from in 1947 and 1967. The refugee population amounts to 7 million
today and it is clear that their right to return is integral to peace.
This is another problem the UN has sidelined with Palestinians reaffirming “the inalienable
right of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been
displaced” as well as be given compensation for their losses by the Israeli state. However,
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom stated that the establishment of a Palestinian state
was conditional upon waiving the right of return and has ever since been Israel´s demand in
order to consider a two-state solution. Hence, all two-state negotiations have failed. The
failure of negotiations and the issue of the right of return are closely linked, and the
problem remains unresolved. In fact, public opinion on both sides have only polarized even
more.
We must note that this shouldn’t be a bargaining situation, the right to return is one of the
most politically and emotionally charged issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because it
´s indispensable to amend the violent ethnic cleansing in the Judaization project,
Palestinians have been victims of.
A pillar of diplomacy is that any meaningful negotiation will have to begin by addressing
core concerns and reassuring the parties, something that a two-state solution does not
achieve.
We need realism to deal with reality