freepalestine
13th December 2011, 20:48
Gingrich stands by 'invented' Palestinians jab
Published Sunday 11/12/2011 (updated) 12/12/2011 12:37
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (L), speaks while former
speaker of the House Newt Gingrich listens during the Republican debate
in Des Moines, Iowa.(AFP/Getty Images/File Kevork Djansezian)
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Leading Republican White House contender Newt Gingrich has stood by remarks that Palestinians are an "invented" people, which have sparked outrage as he seemed to call into question long-held US policy on statehood.
"Is what I said factually correct? Yes. Is it historically true? Yes," Gingrich said during a thorny moment in the latest debate among the Republicans vying to challenge President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.
Gingrich's comments were the most hawkish to date from any Republican vying to take on President Barack Obama in November 2012's national election, and came as his rivals upped the bidding to gain key support from Jewish voters.
In a sign he could abandon the US position on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, Gingrich said the Jewish people had the right to a state, but did not confirm if Palestinians should have the same privilege.
"Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire," Gingrich told The Jewish Channel in an interview released on Friday.
"We've had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community," he said.
"They had a chance to go many places. And for a variety of political reasons, we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and I think it's tragic," the candidate said.
Republicans aiming for the presidency have declared an unshakable commitment to Israel, while criticizing Obama's policy toward Israel.
But Gingrich's campaign was later forced to backtrack and a statement was issued that said the candidate did in fact favor the same two-state solution espoused by Obama and previous US presidents.
"Gingrich supports a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," spokesman R.C. Hammond said, "which will necessarily include agreement between Israel and the Palestinians over the borders of a Palestinian state."
Outraged Palestinian officials called for the former US House speaker to apologize for his "vulgar, hurtful and ridiculous remarks."
His characterization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "constituted a totally unacceptable distortion of historical truth," Ramallah prime minister Salam Fayyad said Saturday, stressing that in Israel "even the most extremist settlers don't dare to speak in such a ridiculous manner."
And American Task Force on Palestine spokesman Hussein Ibish was quick to point out that "there was no Israel and no such thing as an 'Israeli people' before 1948," when the country was established.
But late Saturday in the latest Republican presidential debate, Gingrich kicked the hornet's nest again, saying: "These people are terrorists."
"They teach terrorism in their schools. They have textbooks that say if there are 13 Jews and nine Jews are killed, how many Jews are left?" he said.
"We pay for those textbooks through our aid money. It's time for somebody to say 'enough lying about the Middle East.'"
Gingrich's latest remarks, including saying that "the Palestinian claim to a right of return is based on a historically false story," put his rivals -- and Americans in general -- on notice that he has no intention of shying away from controversy as he seeks his party's nomination.
While Jewish voters account for a very small portion of the electorate, they play an important role in pivotal states such as Florida and delegate-rich Pennsylvania that are key to the presidential nominating process.
Earlier in the week, Gingrich told a Republican Jewish forum that if he won the nomination he would ask John Bolton, former president George W. Bush's UN envoy, to be his secretary of state. Bolton is known for his virulent defense of Israel.
At that same forum, Gingrich's main rival for the nomination, Mitt Romney, said he would visit Washington's close ally on his first trip as president, and claimed that Obama had "chastened" Israel.
Republican White House hopeful Michele Bachmann meanwhile joined Gingrich in saying she would move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, to which both Israel and Palestinians lay claim.
In the interview with Jewish TV, Gingrich also charged that the Palestinian Authority shares the militant Islamist Hamas movement's "enormous desire to destroy Israel."
The Palestinian Authority formally recognizes Israel's right to exist.
At Saturday's debate, Representative Ron Paul slammed Gingrich's comments as "just stirring up trouble," while Romney called them "a mistake."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443918
Gingrich remarks 'demeaning and ridiculous'
Published Saturday 10/12/2011 (updated) 11/12/2011 15:13
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A top US presidential hopeful's denial of the Palestinian people's existence reflects a dark and racist worldview, Palestinian officials said Saturday.
The prime minister in Ramallah urged Newt Gingrich to apologize to the Palestinian people, after Gingrich called them "an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs."
“These are extremely trivial, demeaning and ridiculous remarks,” Salam Fayyad told reporters. “Even the most extremist settlers of Israel wouldn’t talk in such a ridiculous way.”
Racist banter is unbecoming of a candidate seeking the office of the presidency, especially of the most powerful country whose leaders boast of their respect for democracy and human rights, he said.
Such remarks would be better suited for a politician adhering to "a Nazi ideology, a source of suffering for humanity, and the Jews topped the list of victims” of that ideology, he said.
Gingrich along with other Republican candidates are seeking to attract Jewish support by vowing to bolster US ties with Israel if elected.
The former speaker of the US House of Representatives had predictably sided with Israel in its decades-old dispute with the Palestinians but took it a step further in his interview with the Jewish Channel.
The cable station posted online its interview with Gingrich, who has risen to the top of Republican polls with voting to start early next year to pick a nominee to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.
He differed with official US policy that respects the Palestinians as a people deserving of their own state based on negotiations with Israel.
"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire" until the early 20th century, Gingrich said.
"I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs, and who were historically part of the Arab community. And they had a chance to go many places, and for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and it's tragic," he added.
Fayyad urged the Republican candidate to open a history book.
“He and his ilk should relearn their history, as seemingly the only thing he knows about is the Ottoman era. The way he distorts historic facts is unacceptable,” he said.
“Our people have been here from the beginning, and they are determined to remain on their land until the end,” Fayyad continued.
Most historians mark the start of Palestinian Arab nationalist sentiment in 1834, when Arab residents of the Palestinian region revolted against Ottoman rule.
Israel, founded amid the 1948 Arab-Israel war, took shape along the lines of a 1947 UN plan for ethnic partition of the then-British ruled territory of Palestine which Arabs rejected.
PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Gingrich seemed to have lost touch with reality.
“His remarks reflect racism, and ignorance, and it is a cheap attempt to appeal to Jewish voters at the expense of the Palestinian people’s rights, and at the expense of peace in the region,” she said.
Other Palestinian officials were equally incensed.
Tayseer Khalid, a senior leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called on both parties in the United States to avoid taking sides in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
They should not take an extremely defensive position in support of “the colonialist, aggressive policy of the State of Israel” in order to win votes, he added.
In his interview, Gingrich also broke with US policy supporting the Palestinian Authority.
He said the Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, represent "an enormous desire to destroy Israel."
The US government has sought to encourage the Palestinian Authority to negotiate with Israel but has labeled Hamas as a terrorist group.
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443696
Published Sunday 11/12/2011 (updated) 12/12/2011 12:37
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (L), speaks while former
speaker of the House Newt Gingrich listens during the Republican debate
in Des Moines, Iowa.(AFP/Getty Images/File Kevork Djansezian)
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Leading Republican White House contender Newt Gingrich has stood by remarks that Palestinians are an "invented" people, which have sparked outrage as he seemed to call into question long-held US policy on statehood.
"Is what I said factually correct? Yes. Is it historically true? Yes," Gingrich said during a thorny moment in the latest debate among the Republicans vying to challenge President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.
Gingrich's comments were the most hawkish to date from any Republican vying to take on President Barack Obama in November 2012's national election, and came as his rivals upped the bidding to gain key support from Jewish voters.
In a sign he could abandon the US position on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, Gingrich said the Jewish people had the right to a state, but did not confirm if Palestinians should have the same privilege.
"Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire," Gingrich told The Jewish Channel in an interview released on Friday.
"We've had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community," he said.
"They had a chance to go many places. And for a variety of political reasons, we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and I think it's tragic," the candidate said.
Republicans aiming for the presidency have declared an unshakable commitment to Israel, while criticizing Obama's policy toward Israel.
But Gingrich's campaign was later forced to backtrack and a statement was issued that said the candidate did in fact favor the same two-state solution espoused by Obama and previous US presidents.
"Gingrich supports a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," spokesman R.C. Hammond said, "which will necessarily include agreement between Israel and the Palestinians over the borders of a Palestinian state."
Outraged Palestinian officials called for the former US House speaker to apologize for his "vulgar, hurtful and ridiculous remarks."
His characterization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "constituted a totally unacceptable distortion of historical truth," Ramallah prime minister Salam Fayyad said Saturday, stressing that in Israel "even the most extremist settlers don't dare to speak in such a ridiculous manner."
And American Task Force on Palestine spokesman Hussein Ibish was quick to point out that "there was no Israel and no such thing as an 'Israeli people' before 1948," when the country was established.
But late Saturday in the latest Republican presidential debate, Gingrich kicked the hornet's nest again, saying: "These people are terrorists."
"They teach terrorism in their schools. They have textbooks that say if there are 13 Jews and nine Jews are killed, how many Jews are left?" he said.
"We pay for those textbooks through our aid money. It's time for somebody to say 'enough lying about the Middle East.'"
Gingrich's latest remarks, including saying that "the Palestinian claim to a right of return is based on a historically false story," put his rivals -- and Americans in general -- on notice that he has no intention of shying away from controversy as he seeks his party's nomination.
While Jewish voters account for a very small portion of the electorate, they play an important role in pivotal states such as Florida and delegate-rich Pennsylvania that are key to the presidential nominating process.
Earlier in the week, Gingrich told a Republican Jewish forum that if he won the nomination he would ask John Bolton, former president George W. Bush's UN envoy, to be his secretary of state. Bolton is known for his virulent defense of Israel.
At that same forum, Gingrich's main rival for the nomination, Mitt Romney, said he would visit Washington's close ally on his first trip as president, and claimed that Obama had "chastened" Israel.
Republican White House hopeful Michele Bachmann meanwhile joined Gingrich in saying she would move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, to which both Israel and Palestinians lay claim.
In the interview with Jewish TV, Gingrich also charged that the Palestinian Authority shares the militant Islamist Hamas movement's "enormous desire to destroy Israel."
The Palestinian Authority formally recognizes Israel's right to exist.
At Saturday's debate, Representative Ron Paul slammed Gingrich's comments as "just stirring up trouble," while Romney called them "a mistake."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443918
Gingrich remarks 'demeaning and ridiculous'
Published Saturday 10/12/2011 (updated) 11/12/2011 15:13
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A top US presidential hopeful's denial of the Palestinian people's existence reflects a dark and racist worldview, Palestinian officials said Saturday.
The prime minister in Ramallah urged Newt Gingrich to apologize to the Palestinian people, after Gingrich called them "an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs."
“These are extremely trivial, demeaning and ridiculous remarks,” Salam Fayyad told reporters. “Even the most extremist settlers of Israel wouldn’t talk in such a ridiculous way.”
Racist banter is unbecoming of a candidate seeking the office of the presidency, especially of the most powerful country whose leaders boast of their respect for democracy and human rights, he said.
Such remarks would be better suited for a politician adhering to "a Nazi ideology, a source of suffering for humanity, and the Jews topped the list of victims” of that ideology, he said.
Gingrich along with other Republican candidates are seeking to attract Jewish support by vowing to bolster US ties with Israel if elected.
The former speaker of the US House of Representatives had predictably sided with Israel in its decades-old dispute with the Palestinians but took it a step further in his interview with the Jewish Channel.
The cable station posted online its interview with Gingrich, who has risen to the top of Republican polls with voting to start early next year to pick a nominee to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.
He differed with official US policy that respects the Palestinians as a people deserving of their own state based on negotiations with Israel.
"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire" until the early 20th century, Gingrich said.
"I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs, and who were historically part of the Arab community. And they had a chance to go many places, and for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and it's tragic," he added.
Fayyad urged the Republican candidate to open a history book.
“He and his ilk should relearn their history, as seemingly the only thing he knows about is the Ottoman era. The way he distorts historic facts is unacceptable,” he said.
“Our people have been here from the beginning, and they are determined to remain on their land until the end,” Fayyad continued.
Most historians mark the start of Palestinian Arab nationalist sentiment in 1834, when Arab residents of the Palestinian region revolted against Ottoman rule.
Israel, founded amid the 1948 Arab-Israel war, took shape along the lines of a 1947 UN plan for ethnic partition of the then-British ruled territory of Palestine which Arabs rejected.
PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Gingrich seemed to have lost touch with reality.
“His remarks reflect racism, and ignorance, and it is a cheap attempt to appeal to Jewish voters at the expense of the Palestinian people’s rights, and at the expense of peace in the region,” she said.
Other Palestinian officials were equally incensed.
Tayseer Khalid, a senior leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called on both parties in the United States to avoid taking sides in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
They should not take an extremely defensive position in support of “the colonialist, aggressive policy of the State of Israel” in order to win votes, he added.
In his interview, Gingrich also broke with US policy supporting the Palestinian Authority.
He said the Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, represent "an enormous desire to destroy Israel."
The US government has sought to encourage the Palestinian Authority to negotiate with Israel but has labeled Hamas as a terrorist group.
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443696