Gingrich: Palestinians an 'invented' people
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WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said in a cable TV interview that Palestinians are an "invented" people with no apparent right to their own state, a rejection of a decade of bipartisan U.S. foreign policy.
In the interview, taped Wednesday in Washington to be broadcast Monday on The Jewish Channel, available on certain cable systems, Mr. Gingrich spoke of his mistrust of Palestinian leaders, admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his view that Obama administration foreign policy is "favoring the terrorists."
"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire," Gingrich said. "We have invented the Palestinian people, who are, in fact, Arabs and are historically part of the Arab people, and they had the chance to go many places.
"For a variety of political reasons," he continued, "we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and I think it's tragic."
Mr. Gingrich's comments, first reported by the online Politico site, were met with surprise and dismay by a range of actors on the foreign policy stage, including Democratic and Republican former diplomats and Palestinian and Israeli advocates.
Mr. Gingrich did more than fan the flames of the already-fraught Arab-Israeli conflict. He challenged long-standing U.S. policy, initiated by former President George W. Bush and continued by President Barack Obama, to encourage the establishment of a separate Palestinian state.
"Besides being factually and historically wrong, this statement is unwise," said Ghaith Al-Omari, executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine and a former adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "Rather than trying to delegitimize or undermine the narrative of either side, it would be much more productive to work toward a solution that guarantees the security and future of both the Palestinians and the Israelis."
Elliott Abrams, a Bush deputy national security adviser now with the Council on Foreign Relations, said: "There was no Jordan or Syria or Iraq, either, so perhaps he would say they are all invented people as well, and also have no right to statehood. Whatever was true then, Palestinian nationalism has grown since 1948, and whether we like it or not, it exists."
Mr. Gingrich's remarks also fed a longtime narrative about the former House speaker: that he has a penchant for provocative utterances, exciting some while alienating others. Mr. Gingrich's chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has been highlighting that narrative this week.
Republican Iowa state Rep. Renee Schulte said Mr. Gingrich has a pattern of undisciplined remarks, contrasting him with Mr. Romney. She said Mr. Romney's "more disciplined approach is what we need in a president."
Mr. Romney himself on Friday demurred when asked in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, whether he agreed with some of his supporters, who in a Thursday offensive organized by his campaign characterized Mr. Gingrich as vain, erratic and untrustworthy.
First Published December 10, 2011 12:00 am
