Gingrich Antagonizes Palestinians

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright December 10, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

                Former history professor, House Speaker and newly minted 68-year-old GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stuck his foot in his mouth on Israeli radio, calling Palestinians and “invented” people.  Battling Jews since before British Lord Arthur Balfour declared in a 1917 letter that the British Mandate of Palestine should be a Jewish homeland, Arabs living in the Holy Land had compelling competing interests.  In the wake of WW I, with the end of the Ottoman Empire, the British swooped into Jerusalem and surrounding territories known as modern Israel to restore order.  When the dust settled, the British held firm until after WWW II, when the Hitler’s Third Reich and Holocaust prompted the British to redeem Lord Balfour’s promise of a Jewish homeland.  Since Israel’s 1948 inception, those Arabs living in the British Mandate of Palestine, have been at war with the Jewish State.

            Gingrich’s remarks struck raw nerve with Palestinians, struggling with their own civil war, not certain how to proceed toward an independent Palestinian state.  Recent attempts in the U.N. to seek recognition without negotiating a peace deal with Israel have backfired.  Gingrich, the ever-lecturing professor, pointed out the obvious:  Palestinians have tried but failed to destroy Israel.  Israel’s 1948 war of liberation was met with strong Arab resistance but failed to stop Zionists committed to a Jewish homeland.  Nineteen years later, led by the late Egyptian Gen. Gamal Abdel Nasser, and supported by Yasser Arafat’s fledgling Palestine Liberation Organization, fought the 1967 War to annihilate Israel.  When the dust settled six days later, Egypt, Syria and Jordan were in rubble with Israel seizing Egypt’s Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, Syria’s Golan Heights and Jordan’s West Bank.

            Before the Six Day War, Gingrich is correct saying that the Palestinians as a people held not one inch of sovereign territory.  Whether or not they felt entitled to such sovereignty is another story.  Israel’s spoils of the 1967 War constitute the land Palestinians and the Arab World calls “occupied territory.”  “This is the lowest point of thinking anyone can reach,” said Saeb Eerekat, a former Arafat aide and close advisor to West Bank Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.  Gingrich’s remarks add “to increase the cycle of violence,” said Erekat, not accepting responsibility for the bitter Palestinian civil war fought between Gaza’s Hamas and West Bank’s Palestinian Authority.  “Remember, there was no Palestine as a state.  It was part of the Ottoman Empire,” until1917 said Gingrich, giving context to his remarks.  Whether Newt is right or not, he still hit a politically incorrect raw nerve.

            Since Sept. 11, when Americans witnessed Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank celebrating in the streets, U.S. foreign policy changed with respect to Palestinians. While it’s true U.S. Mideast policy before Bush tried to show balance between Israelis and Palestinians, after Sept. 11 the U.S. no longer supported terrorism no matter how noble the cause.  Bush could no longer deal with Arafat in the same way, watching him use Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, etc. to suicide bomb Israel to meet political objectives.  When Israel under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pulled out of Gaza in 1995, it opened door for eventual parliamentary elections in 1996.  When the Bush administration broke of relations in 1996, it pushed Hamas to eventually seize Gaza by force in 1997.  Since then, the Palestinians have been in civil war unable to make peace.

            Gingrich’s remarks, while ill-advised, reflect the historical record more accurately than Palestinian propaganda.  “What is the cause of violence, war in this region?  Denial, denying people their religion, their existence, and now he’s is denying our existence,” said Erekat, diverting attention away from the real obstacle to peace.  If Abbas can’t make peace with Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, how can he make peace with Israel?  Gingrich’s remarks hit a raw nerve precisely because the Palestinians haven’t accepted the change in U.S. foreign policy since Bush:  The U.S. won’t tolerate terrorist acts against the Jewish State.  Palestinians, since Arafat, have always justified terrorism as legitimate resistance.  Gingrich’s remarks won him plaudits with the conservative Jewish vote, supporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and refusing to make concessions with terrorists.

            Newt stirred up a hornet’s nest reminding the Palestinians that they held no sovereign territory in the land they call Palestine or elsewhere.  Instead of lashing out against Newt, the Palestinians should be busy resolving their own civil war that makes peace with Israel and independent state impossible.  Whether Palestinians like it or not, there’s no path to peace other than through Israel.  No peace or independent state is possible as long as Hamas is committed to armed resistance.  Firing missiles from Gaza only reminds Israel and the U.S. that the same terrorism continues.  Calling Gingrich’s remarks “very racist comments” or saying he was “incapable of holding public office,” PLO member Hanan Ashrawi only hurts the Palestinian cause.  Newt knows the history but must learn the sensitivities.  If peace has any shot of prevailing, Palestinians need to resolve their civil war and get back to the table.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2005 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.