Palestinians 'an invented' people? Lieberman rejects Gingrich view (video)
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the first Jew on a major party’s national ticket, said Tuesday he disagrees with Newt Gingrich’s assertion that the Palestinians are 'an invented' people.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, responds to a question during the Monitor Breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, DC on Dec. 13.
Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the first Jew to appear on a major party’s presidential ticket, disagrees with GOP candidate Newt Gingrich’s view that the Palestinians are “an invented” people.
Mr. Gingrich "expressed one view” of the Palestinians’ history, Senator Lieberman said Tuesday at a Monitor-hosted breakfast with reporters. “There are others, of course, that are quite different. To me the important fact is, the Palestinians are a people today and any resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has to be between two peoples, two nations.”
Last week, former House Speaker Gingrich told an interviewer from cable TV’s Jewish Channel that Palestinians’ effort to gain statehood was the result of “an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs and were historically part of the Arab community.”
Gingrich came under fire for that comment from other Republican presidential candidates at a debate Saturday in Iowa. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called Gingrich’s comments “a mistake.” Gingrich responded that Palestinian groups “are terrorists,” adding that ''sometimes it's helpful to have a president of the United States who tells the truth.''
