WASHINGTON ? Leading Republican White House contender Newt Gingrich has stood by remarks that Palestinians are an "invented" people, which have sparked outrage as he seemed to call into question long-held US policy on statehood.
"Is what I said factually correct? Yes. Is it historically true? Yes," Gingrich said during a thorny moment in the latest debate among the Republicans vying to challenge President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.
Gingrich's comments were the most hawkish to date from any Republican vying to take on President Barack Obama in November 2012's national election, and came as his rivals upped the bidding to gain key support from Jewish voters.
In a sign he could abandon the US position on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, Gingrich said the Jewish people had the right to a state, but did not confirm if Palestinians should have the same privilege.
"Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire," Gingrich told The Jewish Channel in an interview released on Friday.
And American Task Force on Palestine spokesman Hussein Ibish was quick to point out that "there was no Israel and no such thing as an 'Israeli people' before 1948," when the Jewish state was established.
But late Saturday in the latest Republican presidential debate, Gingrich kicked the hornet's nest again, saying: "These people are terrorists."
Earlier in the week, Gingrich told a Republican Jewish forum that if he won the nomination he would ask John Bolton, former president George W. Bush's UN envoy, to be his secretary of state. Bolton is known for his virulent defense of Israel.
Republican White House hopeful Michele Bachmann meanwhile joined Gingrich in saying she would move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, to which both Israel and Palestinians lay claim.
(Invented' Palestinians Jab) Confused??.Where they invented by test tube baby?
This Republican Mr Gingrich wants to be a US President on this state of mind???????????????????????????????
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