DES MOINES, Iowa — GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich on Saturday defended his statement that the Palestinians are an “invented” people, brushing aside criticism that he had unnecessarily made the Mideast peace process more difficult.
“Is what I said factually true? Yes,” Gingrich said during a candidate debate in which he drew applause for asserting that it was time someone spoke the truth about the nature of Israel’s struggle with the Palestinians.
Gingrich’s earlier remarks to a cable channel struck at the heart of Palestinian sensitivities about the righteousness of their struggle for an independent state and put him at odds not only with the international community but also with all but an extremist fringe in Israel. Mainstream Israelis, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, support the idea of an independent Palestine alongside Israel as part of a peace agreement.
Gingrich expanded on his views when he told the audience at an afternoon veterans’ forum that he supports a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that includes two separate states, then that evening rejected criticism from chief rival Mitt Romney that he had spoken for Israel when he shouldn’t have.
Palestinian officials reacted furiously Saturday, accusing the Republican presidential hopeful of incitement and staging a “cheap stunt” to court the Jewish vote.
