Posted on 12/12/2011 5:22:08 AM PST by KyGeezer
The Arab League has condemned the Republican US presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, for calling Palestinians an "invented" people and "terrorists".
Mohammed Sobeih, who handles Palestinian affairs for the regional organisation, said the claims were racist and a cheap stunt to get votes.
Mr Gingrich made the comments in a television interview on Friday and in a candidates' debate on Saturday.
Israel's government has said the claims are a matter of internal US politics.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a right-wing coalition government, has recognised the Palestinian people.
'Vulgar, hurtful and ridiculous'
Mr Gingrich, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination and a former speaker of the US House of Representatives, first set out his position on the Palestinian people in an interview with the Jewish Channel.
"Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman empire," he 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.
He also said President Barack Obama's Middle East policy was "out of touch", and the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, and Hamas, which governs Gaza, had "an enormous desire to destroy Israel".
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I tend to agree with you. So a Gingrich Administration that admits that any talk of a solution in the Mid-East is wasted effort would be refreshing. It's hard to make peace when one side's only acceptable solution is the destruction of the other side.
I think that Non-Sequitur would definitely agree with you.
Ah but what would The Globe say? Since that seems to be your gold standard for media information...
You do remember the six days in 1967 don't you?
That's what got them into their current situation isn't it?
Not exactly.
I guess it should have been a seven day war.
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