Indeed they are. You’ve heard me discuss on Tammy Radio for years the fact 
that so-called “Palestinians” are no such thing–they’re ethnic Arabs, the same as Jordandians and Saudis, etc. I believe Gingrich is the first politician of his stature to so solidly make this point.
US Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has drawn outrage for calling the Palestinians an “invented” people who want to destroy Israel.
He made the comment in an interview with a Jewish television channel.
Mr Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, departed from official US policy that respects the Palestinians as a people deserving their own state.
He said there was no Palestine as a state and that it was part of the Ottoman Empire until the early 20th century.
“We’ve had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community,” he said in the interview.
“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 I think it’s tragic.”
As you might imagine, those who have been relying on the fantasy “Palestinian” people construct aren’t too happy about Gingrich’s comments. They’ve grown so used to Western civilization being terrorized into silence, hearing hearing someone speak the truth must have been shocking.
Gingrich stands by “invented” people remark
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…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.
Regardless of what you think of Gingrich’s potential as president, his clarity and courage to speak the simple truth of the Middle East (after years now of appeasement and support for our enemies) deserves respect and admiration.
Fox News Video: Gingrich Describes Palestinian People as ‘Invented’
Maynard adds: For further historical background, see my post, Ethnic Cleansing of the Jews from Arab Lands, 1948 Versus 2001.
Brava, Tammy, for this post. I’ve written this before, but I think it bears repeating: In the movie Exodus (1960), a very young Paul Newman plays Ari-Ben Canaan, a Jew who lives in Palestine. An equally young Eva Saint Marie notices him, and asks someone who he is. She is told that he is a young “Palestinian,” which is what *Jews* who lived in the area were called at the time (the movie takes place in 1947, a year before the State of Israel was established). Arabs co-opted the term years later. (By the way, the movie gives a good overview of the history of the time, including the struggle between two Jewish undergound group fighting for statehood, the Haganah and the Irgun).
And with that, Newt has just earned my vote.
I can also hear the Ronulan and the Intelligentsia frothing from the mouth even from here!!
ooops, it’s Eva Marie Saint. (Do I have dyslexia ? 🙂 )
Shifra, maybe you were thinking of the Canadian folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie. 🙂
Funny how the truth hurts! There is a video by Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Danny Ayalon that explains the “Palestinians plight” perfectly! (h/t The Right Scoop)! In the video he expalins how the Arab Nations who are so outraged by Israel’s stance, refuses to allow the “Palestinians” citizenship into their own countries! Hypocritical? You Betcha!
Go Newt Go! He is the only candidate that I have heard speak the truth without worrying about being PC! We need more of that from any politician who truly supports our dear friends, the Israelis i.e. Jewish people!
As I see it:
The “Palestinian” Cause aka the P.L.O. was a construct of Yasser(May he burn in Hell for eternity) Arafat and his criminal gang of jew-hating, anti-semitic, women and children kil**** swine.
By the way, like our “temporary president” he also won the Nobel Peace prize.
If Gingrich is elected President, the 1st thing Bolton will do is to accept the resignations of all the appointed P.L.O. sympathizers in the State Department and give the remaining ‘lie detector’ tests to find the moles from Iran, et al.
posted 12/10 720pm Texas [Jerusalem is the capital of Israel] Time.
Hell the yeah! Starting to love Newty Tooty Fresh N Fruity!
It had to be said and was done so boldy by Newt. Don’t know if this helps his presidential asperations (on the contrary, it probably hurt his chances), but I respect truth tellers.
In Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugged blog it was disclosed that Newt had previously pledged to name John Bolton as Secretary of State if elected. If this is true then it is an excellent move on Newt’s part to secure the conservative base.
You are correct when you say that the term “Palestinian” was made-up. It was actually made up by General Titus of the Roman Army after the seige and sack of Jerusalem (A.D. 70). He wanted to rub the Jews face in the dirt by calling the remaining occupants “Palestinian.” In ancient times, the Jews battled their life-long enemies: the Philistines. Titus knew this and demanded that area be called Palistine and the occupants: Palestinians. Funny how the song remains the same. The Jew’s ancient enemy (Philistines) are and have been their nemesis (Palestinians). Man, you cannot tell me that God is not involved with the Jewish nation (Israel).
Radargeek, since you beat me to it I’ll just chime in and ditto! If Newt wants to really get under their skin he could give this history lesson. The word Palestine was derived from Philistine…. and the Philistines weren’t even Arab, Semitic, or anything like that. They were Greek! Too bad the so-called Palestinians of today don’t know they’re claiming a Greek name given by a Roman to Jews. LOL!
Bravo Newt. This garbage of the “Palestinian people” always rankles me. One of my closest cousins comes from a father whose family lived as Jews in Jerusalem for at least five generations dating back to the 18th century. It was Ottoman territory back then, and the Ottomans were not even Arabs. Of course there were Arabs there, but there were Jews, Christians, Turks, Armenians, and others as well. It didn’t belong to freaking Muslims, that’s for sure. The Muslims just decided to plant their trophy mosque on top of Judaism’s holiest site, then tried to use the Nazis to get rid of the Jews first, and then tried to use whining and crying to the naive west in the 20th century to complete their conquest.
And further, the Jews have never had a problem with Arabs living peacefully in Israel. Jews have never sought to take land outside of the traditional Jewish lands. In fact, Jews have as good a claim as anyone over much of the territory now known as Jordan, but have never considered even asking for it in the modern age. The State of Israel, including the “West Bank”, is an entirely reasonable territory to be run by Jews. Just like Saudi Arabia can reasonably be allowed to be run by arabs.
I immediately thought of you when Gingrich made statement on so-called Palestinians being ‘invented’ – maybe he’s a secret TAM
Patricia, if Newt is not a TAM yet, he should become one soon. He never seems
unable to handle people that like a challenging discussion. TAMS like challenging discussions. He would be a good fit to join all of us!
I like that he said this so the left and the “Palestinians” will remember that they never did have a nation, or where known as Palestinians before recent history. Also Israel will know he has their back 110%. But surely there were some, or many arab tribes that where lead by someone during the Ottoman times that were rooted in this land. Krauthammer is right to say that it is also irrelevant, as there will surely need to be some kind of nation these people can call their own as people do have a right to self determination. In addition, no other country will let them in. (probably because they will just try to take it over and call it theirs, like in Jordan.) What Newt said is very very relevant to us as voters as it lets us know how he thinks on this issue, and this view will inform his decisions when he tries to negotiates a peace deal. I hate Hamas and Fatah! I would probably end up hating 50% of the people over there if I got a chance to know them. However, I have met many nice Palestinians and other arab muslims alike. We can’t just turn the whole place into glass because of their terrible leadership, and cultural failings. On the other hand if one of those loons sets off an Abomb in Isreal, or the US, then all bets are off, and heads will surely roll.
Yes, the truth of history must be acknowledged. The only nation ever on this land was Israel. It was otherwise a colony, and in later history a place that had largely fallen into a state of disrepair and abandonment. In the first half of the twentieth century, the term “Palestinian” would generally refer to a Jew that had emigrated to Palestine.
I’ve heard it said that compromising with palestinians means that Israelis would accept a deal where only half of their population would be killed.
Let’s not forget who sang and danced in the streets on 9-11. It was the palestinians in the West Bank.
Thanks, everyone for the history lesson on this issue. Yes, can we dispense with the illusion of “Peace Talks” which call only for Israel’s capitulation and turn this situation around to making peace between these impoverished, miserable Arabs and the rich Arab countries who should be “sharing the wealth” with them? That should appeal to the Left.