q_q, tell us what you say to these people! Inquiring minds what to know.
I remember, but it's a tough one 'cos it really requires a full explanation..
I'm not sure how applicable it is to other debates but it just worked perfectly, I looked like a courageous genius.. which is good because muslims more than most gentiles, assume that all jews are the way they see one jew. Jewish strength is a kiddush hashem.
here are some highlights.
There were a few lines, like
when they were talking about dismantling settlements.. I said
"If arabs can live in the jewish state(as they do), then why can't jews live in the arab state"
(apparently sometimes they respond with something like - well, allow the pre 1948 jews to. But they didn't.. It put the muslim into complete silence actually acknowledging the point)
There were about a dozen of them.. firing different questions at me
Another great line (a bit of a silly one but it worked a treat)
The muslim female handing out the leaflets was discussing something with me, and I mentioned A7. She said that is "right wing".. I said "That's your opinion"(that was a bit of a trap for her!).
She said "It's not an opinion, it's a fact"
I said "And where did you derive that fact?"
There is a silence, she is surrounded by all these muslims and me facing her, and she is really lost for words. After about 5 seconds of silence, I pointed at her and said "You derived it from yourself, that's why it's not a fact, it's an opinion".
She went bright red.. and after a pause, she says quite loudly as if asking for help "He's really provoking me"..
So I put my palms out but in a confident way, like an old logic professor, and I said very confidently in the same tone that he would have said it " **I'm** not provoking anybody". At one point she said her legs were shaking. (I might have said ok and left at that point, i'm not sure.. But I did come back later).
These people handing out leaflets just want to hand out the leaflets and get people interested in palestinian human rights. They don't like being debated.
The girl that set up the stand wasn't behind the table. She was really intelligent, but she didn't really respond to me, she was concerned about her stand, that it wasn't looking good and was causing problems for them. Not necessarily that I was winning the debate(I certainly was), but she could have responded herself. I think it was more that she didn't want an incident causing complaints and her not being able to put her stand up. And she wanted to focus on the plight of poor palestinians, she isn't able to do that when her stand provokes a heated debate. Also, people handing out leaflets want to reach as many people as possible with their information.. Not get distracted by one person..