Gingrich and the Imaginary Palestinians

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has caused something of a storm with his latest statements on foreign policy.

Earlier in the week he threw the leftist MSM into a bit of a tizzy with his promise to appoint John Bolton to head up the State Department. Now, in a bit leaked from an interview with The Jewish Channel, Gingrich has once again stepped on a sacred cow by calling the Palestinians an “invented people.” This has, predictably, drawn the ire of all sorts of people, sending the press scurrying around for outraged statements from Arabs and the politicians who support them.

In the hundreds of news articles that have been written on that short blurb none that I managed to see actually spoke to any historians. Most quoted various Palestinians saying Gingrich is wrong, but without bringing any real arguments to the table. Several articles did make an effort to mention some history as well as comment that, being the Jewish Sabbath in Israel, that no Israeli politicians were available for comment; though this seems to have been a rare occurrence of actual journalism.

Overall, this was an excellent chance for the press to actually take a look at the “accepted” story and compare Gingrich’s statements to the historical record. The only problem with that is that most likely they would come up with the fact that he is right. Before 1948 the only Palestinians were the Jews living in what is now Israel. There was never an Arab state in the area, the times it was ruled by Muslims it was always a provincial backwater, an after thought in the greater scheme of things. For those interested in understanding the history of Jews and Arabs in the region read From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters, a thorough and painstakingly researched and fully annotated history of the conflict.