The place for a Roma (Gypsy) homeland is in India and the place for a Jewish homeland is in Iraq.

Note: This is an amended version of a debate that was accepted and subsequently declined by a previous opponent. Now to the argument: In many respects, the histories of the Roma people (Gypsies) and the Jews are remarkably similar. In the 5th Century the Roma people left Northwest India and travelled to Egypt (hence the origin of the term "Gypsy", a corruption of the word "Egyptian") from whence they subsequently settled all over the world, but many in Romania. (1) Similarly, when the leader of a religious cult called Abraham left Babylon in circa 1800 BCE he led his devotees, who later to became known as "Jews", on a journey to Egypt. That began the process whereby his followers would also eventually settle all over the world. Though many left Egypt under the direction of Moses and settled in Palestine, which was then known as "Canaan" and part of which is now known as "Israel", the majority established themselves elsewhere. (2), (3), (4) Since those times, being outsiders who were deeply distrusted due to their unwillingness to conform to local customs and laws, both the Roma and the Jews suffered from prejudice and persecution in their host countries. This hatred against both of these historically nomadic peoples culminated in the Holocaust when the Nazis murdered millions of Roma and Jews. (5) After the Second World War the Zionists demanded a homeland for the Jewish Diaspora. Originally, Ethiopia and Uganda were considered but when the British gave up their mandate on Palestine this led the way for the creation of the state of Israel there. At that time, it is important to note, Jews only represented 11% of the total population. (6), (7), (8) Coincidentally, the Roma population in Romania today is also estimated to be 11%, though there is no prospect of the Roma people gaining their own homeland there as the Jews did in Palestine. (8) Ironically, given that the current Israeli government routinely describes Palestinian victims of their military aggression as "terrorists", the formation of the Jewish state was due in no small part to the actions of a Jewish terrorist organisation called Irgun, which believed that "only active retaliation would deter the Arabs and the British and only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state" and which later evolved into the Likud Party that has ruled most Israeli governments since 1977 . (10) Since the creation of the Jewish state in Palestine, most Arabs in Israel have been forced off their land and out of their homes, creating millions of refugees in the process, and those Arabs that remain face institutional persecution at the hands of the Israeli government. Worse still, Arabs are not even safe in the refugee camps in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank as the Israeli's routinely bulldoze and bomb their makeshift houses, schools and hospitals and do not even allow in humanitarian aid. (11), (12), (13) Many Western politicians may sympathise with the plight of Palestinian refugees but insist that it is necessary to "address the realities on the ground" and there can be no "right to return". However, this is to deny the refugees justice. Imagine you and your family are sitting at the dining table enjoying your Sunday dinner (roast beef, creamed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and buttered vegetables all drenched in a rich, meaty gravy and washed down with a cheeky red wine with a fruity nose, citrus overtones, hints of honeysuckle and smooth, satisfying finish) when an armed man bursts in through the window and opens fire. Some of your family are shot but you manage to escape and raise the alarm. When the police arrive they knock on the door and the armed man answers. He explains that he is a Pastafarian and that the Flying Spaghetti Monster promised your house to him in a dream and it is his religious duty to possess it and to live in it. That would be a pretty outrageous defence of his actions, I think you would agree, but that is the type of argument Jewish people give for occupying Palestine. As Rabbi Eliezer Melamid explains: "The commandment to settle the land of Israel requires that we conquer the land. It is thus written, ‘Possess the land and settle it, for I have given you the land in order that you take possession of it' (Numbers 33:53), and our sages explain the expression ‘possess' to imply the conquest and establishment of Israeli sovereignty in the land." (14) It is the undue reverence accorded to Judeo-Christian beliefs in the West in general, and America in particular, that has enabled Jewish settlers to largely displace the native population in Palestine. By contrast, the Roma people have no such religious justification for establishing a homeland for themselves in Romania, which is one of the reasons why they do not enjoy even limited autonomy there. That said, it would clearly be outrageous for the international community to allow the sort of mass ethnic cleansing, the wholesale theft of property and the systemic abuse of human rights that have taken place to create Jewish homeland in Israel to be repeated in Romania in order to create a homeland for the Roma people. The relaity is that it is difficult to envisage Israel abandoning its stated aim to create a wholly Jewish state in Palestine and allowing Arabs to return to their homes and farms, or to imagine Western governments insisting they do so. However, the Jewish and Roma peoples do have their own native homelands, in Iraq and India respectively, and although Jews and Roma should be made welcome in their host countries, including Palestine and Romania, and should be free from persecution there, the original habitants of those lands should not be subjugated as they currently are in Israel and the illegally occupied Palestinian Territories. Thank you. (1) http://encarta.msn.com... (Please search the encyclopedia for "Roma (people)") (2) http://www.jewfaq.org... (3) http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org... (4) http://en.wikipedia.org... (5) http://www.ushmm.org... (6) http://www.serendipity.li... (7) http://news.bbc.co.uk... (8) http://en.wikipedia.org... (9) http://en.wikipedia.org... (10) http://en.wikipedia.org... (11) http://www.ifamericansknew.org... (12) http://www.un.org... (13) http://www.guardian.co.uk... (14) http://www.yeshiva.org.il...