Newt Gingrich Stands By Comment That Palestinians Are 'Invented' People

By DANIEL ESTRIN and THOMAS BEAUMONT, ASSOCIATED PRESS

DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said he supports a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that includes two separate states, but he did not step back Saturday from his assertion that Palestinians are an "invented" people, an incendiary comment that infuriated one side in the Mideast peace process.

The burden to show a willingness to reach a peace accord with the Israelis lies squarely with the Palestinians, he said.

"When the president keeps talking about a peace process while Hamas keeps firing missiles into Israel, if we had a country next to us firing missiles, how eager would we be to sit down and negotiate?" Gingrich told a veterans forum in Des Moines, before participating in a nationally televised debate with six other GOP candidates vying for the presidential nomination.

Palestinian officials reacted furiously on Saturday to Gingrich's assertion, accusing the Republican presidential hopeful of incitement and staging a "cheap stunt" to court the Jewish vote.

The remarks struck at the heart of Palestinian sensitivities about the righteousness of their struggle for an independent state and put him at odds not only with the international community but with all but an extremist fringe in Israel. Mainstream Israelis, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, support the idea of an independent Palestine alongside Israel as part of a final peace agreement.

As Gingrich has risen to lead in national and early-voting-state polls, he has come under criticism from his party rivals for making inflammatory statements. The Palestinian comments intensified that scrutiny with less than four weeks until Iowa's precinct caucuses kick off the nominating contests on Jan. 3.

In footage released Friday, the former House speaker told the Jewish Channel, a U.S. cable TV network, that the Palestinians were an "invented people."

"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state – (it was) part of the Ottoman Empire. I think we have an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and historically part of the Arab community and they had the chance to go many places," Gingrich said according to a video excerpt posted online.

Gingrich sought to clarify his position later Saturday, saying in Iowa that he supports a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, including a Palestinian state.

In a statement, Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said that "to understand what is being proposed and negotiated you have to understand decades of complex history – which is exactly what Gingrich was referencing."

"Newt Gingrich supports a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, which will necessarily include agreement between Israel and the Palestinians over the borders of a Palestinian state," Hammond said in the statement.

Those latest comments appeared unlikely to calm the uproar among Palestinian officials.

The Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, demanded that Gingrich "review history."

"From the beginning, our people have been determined to stay on their land," Fayyad said in comments reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. "This, certainly, is denying historical truths."

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, accused Gingrich of incitement. "Mark my words ... these statements of Gingrich's will be the ammunitions and weapons of the bin Ladens and the extremists for a long, long time," Erekat told CNN.

The Palestinians have never had an independent state of their own. The region was ruled by the Ottomans for several centuries, and when the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I, the British took control of the area. It was known as the British Mandate for Palestine, and Muslims, Christians and Jews living there were all referred to as Palestinians.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin sharply criticized Gingrich's comments as cynical attempts to curry support with Jewish voters and unhelpful to the peace process.

"The vast majority of American Jews (including this one) and the Israeli Government itself are committed to a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians live side-by-side as neighbors and in peace," Levin said in a statement. "Gingrich offered no solutions – just a can of gasoline and a match."

And while Gingrich sought to reassert his openness to a two-state solution, which has been the position of Republican and Democratic administrations, he said it was appropriate to discuss the history of the region.

"We have a challenge in the Middle East, and this is one where we're going to have a national debate that's going to be very difficult and that people are going to find at times very frustrating," he told about 100 veterans in a theater near Drake University a few hours before the debate. "We can't have an honest conversation about what's going on in the Middle East, we can't even discuss what the roots of the problem are."

After the Arabs rejected an international plan calling for the establishment of Jewish and Arab states, part of the land became the state of Israel. During the 1948 war surrounding the Jewish state's creation, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to flee their homes.

Just as Israeli identity was forged after a long nationalist struggle staged by Zionist Jews for a state of their own, the identity of Palestinian Arabs was also hewn by their own decades-long struggle over the same land.

Shortly after taking office in 2009, Netanyahu endorsed the establishment of a Palestinian state, abandoning his Likud Party's traditional opposition to the idea. More moderate Israeli leaders have sought a peace deal with the Palestinians for the past two decades.

Both Democratic and Republican administrations in the U.S. also have endorsed Palestinian statehood.

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, a top official in the PLO, said that Gingrich was seeking a "cheap way" to win Jewish and pro-Israel voters in next year's election.

Some Israeli politicians on the margins of the Israeli consensus welcomed Gingrich's stance. Danny Danon, deputy speaker of Israel's parliament, and a minority voice among his hawkish Likud party, said Gingrich "understands very well the reality we live in in the Middle East" and said his statement on the Palestinians is shared by "most of the Jewish people, not just in Israel."

Israeli historian Tom Segev, however, said the argument about the existence of the Palestinian people is a thing of the past.

"There is no intelligent person today who argues about the existence of the Palestinian people," Segev said.

"Nations are created gradually. I don't think the Palestinians are less of a nation than the Americans," he added.

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Comments

[Haitham Kayyali]

12:21 AM on 12/23/2011

in actuality gingrich has it backwards the jewish people as a race are invented!!!!
palestinians historically are the descendants of the canaanites (some of the first people on earth)who are semites by the way
at the time of the ottomans (thousands of years after) the region of sham (syria,lebanon, palestine, jordan, parts of modern turkey and egypt) was under the ottaman's rule

the modern jews if they are originally from eastern europe arer actually desecendants of khazars (a turkish tribe from central asia that in the eigth century converted to judiasm)

if they are originally from north africa or the middle east, well then they are really arabs!!!

[TIMBO3474]

06:02 PM on 12/14/2011

reading these comments is very informative

[Djay0252]

01:39 PM on 12/12/2011

Gingrich will live to regret that decision...then again his over inflated ego might say no to that.

[nh3man]

12:51 PM on 12/12/2011

Although the Jewish people aren't invented, the state of Israel did not exist before 1948. That country was invented, and Jews from around the World moved there. The Palestinians were already living there, and many were forced out to make room for the influx of Jews, and that continues today. The picture isn't black and white as many on the right would paint it. Newt's comment about text books in Palestine is probably true, but giving his penchant for bomb throwing he'd support text books in the U.S. that say the same about Democrats. Newt is a hate monger, and he'll change sides on any topic just to foment more divisiveness.

[Peter Zin]

04:26 PM on 12/12/2011

palestinians have a state it is called Jordan.

[Charles Queen]

12:17 PM on 12/12/2011

Well their really not s state technicaly speaking,but I just finished readin about how the palestinians are going to create their own state now.Perhaps thats what they need to do and should have done before now.Talks were all set to happen until they sent those ships to protests and then that shut everything down.No matter what they do,until they abide by every singl demand placed on them by the U.N. their not going to ever get in with everyone else.The U.N made that perfectly clear when it first issued the demands they had to meet and abise by in order to have a seat in the U.N.

[Just logic]

11:00 AM on 12/12/2011

Where are all the Newt fans? Just curious. I realize that Newt was a crook and an embarrassment to the party in the 90’s. If we put him in then we get Obama. This guy obviously don’t realize that Israel is in more danger with him remarks. Not to mention they are only invented because the name Palestinian stuck after being kicked out by of Palestine. Jordan gave the land to create Israel they were living there. But this again just shows that Newt doesn’t use his brain only his mouth.

[RICH JALLOUK]

10:12 AM on 12/12/2011

He is a disgrace ,my dad left Palestine in 1948 was forced out by the ISRAELI TERRORIST gangs ,stern ect .
he went ot NYU=NY UNIV and became the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the YMCA in NEW YORK.
hE DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO HELPING PEOPLE ! and was one of the nicest kindest people to walk the face of the earth.
He is now rolliing over in his grave about this comment ,ridiculous thing to say.

[verylargehat]

01:05 PM on 12/11/2011

He's a disgrace.

[cris robin]

12:31 PM on 12/11/2011

with the rise of the new Islamists states in Egypt, Libya, Syria..et al.. you would think Mr. Gingrich would think of a more constructive way of discussing this issue.. He will prove to be the worst enemy Israel ever had..

[Laurent Wagner]

12:21 PM on 12/11/2011

U.S. policy in the Middle East has already cost $6.8 trillion.

- The 1973 oil crisis cost the U.S. economy no less than $900 billion, and probably as much as $1200 billion (Today's Dollars).

- Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion.

- The Iranian revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war cost the U.S. economy $335 billion.

- U.S. post 9/11 wars cost $3.7 trillion.

[cris robin]

12:17 PM on 12/11/2011

this man is a completely self absorbed nihilist.. and a perfect candidate for the republican nomination.. remind you of someone from history ??

[GCurry]

12:14 PM on 12/11/2011

Bah, this telegraphs who Newt is, as if there was ever doubt.

The last time the neocon/fundie alliance held power in this country, in 2001, we were just itching to invade Iraq. We were duped and lied to, to make it happen. Now, 5000 American dead later, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead because of it, and a decade of spending on stuff that goes BOOM and loses hearts and minds. This country won't survive another round of such stupidity.

Maybe we deserve what we get if we elevate this man. Social darwinism on a country scale.

[nh3man]

12:53 PM on 12/12/2011

You've got it right.

[lookingforintegrity]

11:58 AM on 12/11/2011

Invented people? That makes no sense. People are born, not invented. Nations are invented, perhaps. Israel was invented. The U.S. was invented. Cultures are invented, all of them are. Is he referring to ethnicities? The Palestinians are no less real than the Israelis, no less real than Americans.

[pepper1311]

03:36 PM on 12/11/2011

These are the people thrown out of Arab countries. Kind of like Florida.

[Just logic]

10:54 AM on 12/12/2011

Know your history. They were thrown out and displaced after Israel was created and Jordon gave up the land. Those arabs were living in Jordan and chose not to leave which displaced them. They don’t want to leave. They are not made up they are displaced.

[Musnt Grumble]

11:55 AM on 12/11/2011

Who ISN'T "invented"? Every society invents itself in one form or another. It's culture, customs, practices, religion etc., are all created and designed around who they want to be and how they want to live. Just because the Israelites have more history does not make them any more or less "invented" than the Palestinians.

[Otherday]

11:51 AM on 12/11/2011

When you think about it, all peoples are "invented" peoples, right? Every tribe, nation, community starts sometime, somewhere. Before it began, that group of people didn't have the identity it would come to have. Even the oldest civilizations in the world were unknown 10,000 years ago.

But no matter. All peoples are just as old as any other. We're all cousins, actually. Same age. Science traces us back to the same band of African hominids hundreds of thousands of years ago. These discussions about tribal superiority are little more than ethnocentrism.