Newt Gingrich’s questioning of the “authenticity” of the Palestinian people and even whether they should be classified as a group has sparked a sharp debate within the Republican Party.
“Remember, there was no Palestine as a state – (it was) part of the Ottoman Empire,” Gingrich told the Jewish Channel last week. “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.”
Several of his fellow candidates for the GOP presidential nomination called his comments unnecessarily provocative and ultimately unhelpful to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In foreign policy circles there has been no shortage of debate about the accuracy of the remarks and the former House Speaker’s consistency on the matter.
On Monday, a political operative who has been working on Palestine-Israel policy for the past 20 years sent The Huffington Post a picture of Gingrich, then the House minority whip, grasped the hand of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat immediately following the September 1993 Oslo peace accords.
The embrace, the source said, came after Arafat met with 20 to 25 House leaders over coffee. Jotting notes down in a yellow pad, Gingrich used the meeting to pitch Arafat on how best to actually construct a Palestinian state. “He said, ‘Look, here is what I think you need — an economic plan – and here is how it will work,'” the operative recalled. “It was a very positive contribution at the time and as they stood up, there were pictures.”
In the background of the picture is Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), a long-serving Arab-American congressman, whose office confirmed that the meeting did take place.
At the time the picture was taken, relations between Palestinian political authorities and Israeli officials — and those same authorities and U.S. officials — were at a starkly different place than they are today. Arafat had attained an elevated status for having pledged to move away from his terrorist past. The Oslo Accords, which set up a process meant to end in a final agreement between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Israeli government, were being hailed as a historic breakthrough. U.S. politicians of all stripes were upbeat.
“I think if the elected head of the Israeli government and the leader of the PLO can find a way to get together and if they are joined by, as it seems possible, Jordan and maybe even some concessions by Syria, I think it would be pretty ridiculous for us to then back off and not at least try to help them make it happen,” Gingrich told CNN ten days before that photo was taken. “I don’t think we should pressure Israel. But if Israel decides — the Israeli government decides it’s going to try to do something, I don’t think we ought to be in the position to block it.”
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17 Responses
Ouch.
Hardly. Congressional leaders are supposed to be chummy with visitng foreign dignitaries.
Sorry to the Huff & Puffington Post but not everyone is as learning challenged as obama. Obviously Mr Newt has learned something in the last 20 years and had seen the light. Kudos to Mr Newt!!
This doesn’t have to be a big deal at all.
All he has to say is that at that time he was misinformed about the Middle East situation. It was almost TWENTY years ago! A LOT has happened since then, and he was wrong about what he said and did at that time. PERIOD.
Why is this trouble for Newt?
Believing that the Palestinians are an invented people and that as arabs they had plenty of places to go(meaning that they maliciously created and perpetuated the refugee situation to use as a weapon against Israel)is not a contradiction to being pragmatic and working out a Palestinian state that renounces violence and builds a prosperous economy. In hindsight, The Palestinians were not true partners of peace but at the time the whole gov’t was working on the premise of taking arafat’s word at face value and if anything, Gingrith showed flexibility and open mindedness, just that over time the palestinians have shown their true face by blowing every opportunity for peace and can no longer be trusted.
What is the problem? At the time, Arafat had fooled people into thinking he really wanted peace. Newt was going along with Israel on this.
Does Gingrich love the Jews as much as Arafat and that why the shake hand so strong ?
I don’t think the picture or the reported conversation prove a thing about where Gingrich stands now. A lot of Jews — good, thoughtful, self-respecting and life-respecting people — had hopes in 1993 that peace could be achieved. I think most of us, myself included, have changed our mind based on how events have gone since then and now realize that peace with the “Palestinians” is all but impossible. I don’t think Gingrich needs to be held to any higher standard than the rest of us.
Looking at the Republican lineup, I think Obama is a shoo-in for re-election.
Hmmmmm. Based on the logic of comments 2 through 7, one could just as reasonably conclude that (i) Newt is a Muslim, (ii) Newt was hoping for a group hug with Hillary Clinton and Mrs. Arafat, and (iii) Newt was trying, almost successfully, to convert Mr. Arafat to Evangelical Christianity.
Insane Conservative,
You are NO conservative if you think that way.
This is a referendum on Obama. If you can’t see it that way, you are part of the ObamaMania drones out there. The president has more baggage than all airlines put together but you won’t hear it from the MSdncLSD types in the media.
Compare newts treatment to arafat with hillarys treatment to suha (mrs arafat) that’s the difference
“I think if the elected head of the Israeli government and the leader of the PLO can find a way to get together and if they are joined by, as it seems possible, Jordan and maybe even some concessions by Syria, I think it would be pretty ridiculous for us to then back off and not at least try to help them make it happen,” Gingrich told CNN ten days before that photo was taken. “I don’t think we should pressure Israel. But if Israel decides — the Israeli government decides it’s going to try to do something, I don’t think we ought to be in the position to block it.”
I don’t understand what all this commotion is all about. I conclude the very opposite! That he’s a staunch ally of Israel! The implication of his statement in the very last scentence (and paragraph) is even if this may not be a good idea (possibly his own opinion), he nevertheless supports it, because Israel is behind it. And he very clearly states, not to pressure Israel!
So sorry, this article misses the mark. And as some have pointed out, questioning the authenticity of the Palestinians is no contradiction to being pragmatic and supportive of Israel in finding solutions to end violence and bringing peace in the region.
No. 11: Your criticism of No. 9 is baffling. No. 9 made a prediction about the outcome of the next presidential election, and you conclude from his prediction that he is not truly conservative. There is nothing conservative or liberal or communist about a prediction. The prediction might be right, it might be wrong, but it is neither conservative nor liberal. I would conclude that your political conservatism is founded solely on faith, and that you shape your view of facts to conform to your pre-determined political beliefs. You actually believe that a person who sees the possibility of an Obama re-election is not a “real” conservative, because he sees the possibility of an outcome not to your liking. And just to be clear, I do not think Mr. Obama is a shoo-in, but the election still looks like his to lose, notwithstanding the stupid economy, because his prospective opponents look absolutely awful.
And what is all this baggage that Mr. Obama supposedly carries? Are you confusing him with an airport baggage handler? Are you still worried about his foreign birth, his Muslim religion, his African liberation Christianity, his takeover of General Motors, his takeover of Citibank, his communism, his secret alliance with the late Osama bin Laden, his disrespect of the military whose might he has marshalled to kill America’s avowed enemy, his unwillingness to attack Qaddafi, his hatred of America? My grandmothers could carry that baggage, and they are not even in this world.
When the news of the Oslo agreements reached Yeshiva Ohr Somayach of Monsey, NY, the dean of the yeshiva klapped on the beema and made all of us recite perek 120 in Tehilim that describes b’nei Kedar (Arabs) as a treacherous nation not to be trusted. The dean knew what many “good, thoughtful, self-respecting and life-respecting people” and Gingrich didn’t know or chose to ignore.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the mainstream socialist liberal ObamaMania media vetted Oybama and democrats like they do to the republicans??
The media died in 08!
#11
Do you realizxe the difference between the current crop of Republican candidates and Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs?
The GOP is missing Snow White.