“Invented” people clash

After Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called the Palestinians an “invented people,” Palestinians quickly condemned the remarks. Leaders from Fatah and the PLO called the comments racist, despicable and an invitation to increased violence. A Hamas spokesman called the comments “incitement for ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians.”

While I disagree with Gingrich, I found the Palestinian reaction puzzling. The official position of Fatah, the PLO and Hamas is that Jews are not a people and that Jews have no historic connection to Israel. That’s just another way of saying that despite a continuous 3,000-year connection to presence in Israel, the Jews are an “invented people.”

Clearly, it’s acceptable for the Palestinians to have an official position on Jews that is, by their own standards, racist, despicable, anti-peace, an invitation to violence and an incitement for ethnic cleansing against the Jews. This Palestinian hypocrisy might explain the lack of peace in the region.

Mike Barenti

Spokane