Palestinians: A Made Up People
The time has come…the door to the truth has been opened by Newt Gingrich. Whether he becomes the GOP candidate for President or not, he will have made a huge difference in the American/Israeli/Palestinian issue, as well as in Jewish lives around the world. His courage is to be applauded.
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JEWISH AFFAIRS
http://nationalconferenceonjewishaffairs.org/
NCJA STATEMENT AFFIRMS HISTORICAL TRUTH EXPRESSED
BY SPEAKER GINGRICH
For Immediate Release
Contact: NCJA Press (212) 726-1124 [email protected]
The National Conference on Jewish Affairs is pleased that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich affirmed what many have historically known, which is that there never was an indigenous Arab “Palestinian” people, race, or religion with their own language, flag, distinct culture, history, or national identity. There were a few pockets of Arabs scattered in the area that were in no way distinct in national character from any of their fellow Arabs among the population of Middle East. Indeed, the term “Palestinian” was used to refer to Jews since Roman times living in that territory. Yassir Arafat and other collaborators co-opted and politicized the term “Palestinian” to refer to the collection of various Arab individuals whom Arab leaders forcibly congregated in settlements so as to create a visible presence for the purpose of making claims on territory belonging historically and legally to the Jewish People.
Instead of retaining the age old name of Palestine for its portion of the British Mandate, the Jewish People decided to call their state Israel, because its Biblical origin, as opposed to using the Roman name. Only the Jewish People in the Land of Israel have done what an identifiable nation and people do when historically attached to a specific land — a continuation of he development begun in Biblical times as their Promised Land.
We commend Mr. Gingrich for his unique courage in stating the historical reality and standing against those who would falsify history so as to grab the land belonging to the Jewish People and to seize decades of Jewish accomplishment and centuries of attachment.
With this in mind, it is time that the world begin questioning the entire concept of an Arab “Palestinian” state in the Land of Israel, especially so when the British Mandate clearly declared that the Arab state in that region was to be located in what today is Jordan.
“The historical truth is that there never was an Arab sovereign state of Palestine. This Middle East Truth that Must Not Be Named, as articulated by Speaker Gingrich, provides an opportunity for huge numbers of citizens to learn historical truths, and for popular but wildly untrue myths to be put to rest,” said Lori Lowenthal Marcus, president of Z STREET and chair of the NCJA Executive Committee.
The National Conference on Jewish Affairs is a coalition of Jewish leaders and heads of Jewish, pro-Israel, pro-America organizations in America and abroad. http://nationalconferenceonjewishaffairs.org/
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Yes, great job Newt, very great job, keep up the good work.
It’s about time the Palestinian parasites stopped trying to steal Israeli land.
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/12/13/an-invented-people/
Newt Gingrich, the leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate, has drawn fire for his claim that the Palestinians are an “invented” people and “terrorists.” His statement sparked fierce condemnation from the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority. Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan criticized Gingrich’s comments as a cynical attempt to curry support with Jewish voters that was unhelpful to the peace process.
Gingrich made his claim about the Palestinians being “terrorists” and an “invented people” to the Jewish Channel, a cable TV station, whilst campaigning for the Jewish vote. This is what he said:
Remember, there was no Palestine as a state — (it was) part of the Ottoman Empire. I think that we’ve had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and who were historically part of the Arab community.
Under normal circumstances, one would ignore Gingrich’s comments as a flippant, ignorant, and insignificant remark that was made by an aging American politician with a reputation for causing controversy. But the problem is that Gingrich is currently leading the polls for the Republican primaries. Thus, he could conceivably become the next U.S. president, if he wins the nomination; and if he wins the subsequent presidential election in 2012, he would be responsible for making war and peace as commander-in-chief. This is why everyone is taking what Gingrich says about the Palestinians seriously. Moreover, instead of apologizing, Gingrich has since defended his statement.
Whilst some commentators have criticized Gingrich’s comments as being unhelpful to the peace process, few have challenged the inaccuracy of his statement. And yet Gingrich’s comments display a surprising level of ignorance for someone who previously taught history to college students before he became a politician.
Every history student knows that nations are invented. On an academic level, to say that the Palestinian people are invented is meaningless, since one could say this about all nations. But to say what Gingrich said in the context in which he said it is culturally insensitive because in the process he is denying Palestinian claims to statehood.
Gingrich is implying that because the Palestinians are Arabs and because they speak Arabic, they are part of an amorphous collectivity, and thus lack the qualities — a unique language, culture, and tradition — associated with statehood. This is at least how Gingrich’s comments have been interpreted by some in Israel, where Israeli Cabinet minister Uzi Landau agreed with Gingrich and claimed the Palestinians do not have their own language or culture, and are instead part of the broader Arab world.
The weakness of this argument is that not all nations have their own language and culture that is distinct from others. For instance, English is the national language not only of the United Kingdom, but is also a national language in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US, and many islands in the Caribbean, which also share a similar culture, but this does not this mean that they are not nations entitled to create and maintain separate states of their own.
Gingrich’s categorical assertion that Palestine was never a state since it was part of the Ottoman Empire is clearly nonsensical and misplaced. Nearly all states were formerly part of another Empire at some point in history, including the U.S., which used to be a British colony. Is Gingrich also claiming that Egyptians, Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Libyans, and Tunisians, are inventions, since they were all formerly part of the Ottoman Empire? And if so, is the concept of being an Israeli not also an invention? Why focus only on the Palestinians as an invented people to the exclusion of others unless Gingrich is trying to imply that the Palestinians are not entitled to have a state of their own?
The fact that the Palestinians have never had a state is also misplaced. They seek a state, and they are entitled to one under international law. Prior to the British Mandate of Palestine, established by the League of Nations in 1922, the state of Israel did not exist. Israel did not come into existence as an independent state until May 1948 in the midst of war when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes while not being allowed a right of return to them. This problem has been further compounded because instead of sharing the land with the Palestinians as envisaged in numerous peace agreements, Israel has done everything it can to prevent the Palestinians from being in a position to form an independent state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Israel has done this by maintaining its 44-year military occupation, colonizing Palestinian lands with settlements, assassinating and imprisoning Palestinian leaders, blocking Palestine’s bid to become a member of the UN, and withholding funds to UNESCO, which recently admitted Palestine as a member-state.
Gingrich would be better advised to spend his time by having a candid, honest, and open conversation about how the US can create the conditions for peace in the Middle East, which the current incumbent of the White House has conspicuously failed to achieve. Making divisive, insensitive, and inaccurate historical comments is unhelpful to both Arabs and Jews, and makes the quest for peace even harder to attain.
On SJP and the ‘stealth jihad’ hitting college campuses near you
October 10, 2011 By Sami Kishawi Leave a Comment
American Thinker published a distorted article about the upcoming National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Conference, claiming SJP represents the student arm of the “stealth jihad” movement and criticizing Columbia University and Jewish students for giving pro-Palestinians a platform to express their views.
There are two ways this response can go. I can either focus on the article’s many contextual, grammatical, and typographical errors (the author, Jan Suzanne Krasner, very noticeably confuses SJP with SPJ), or I can simply show how the author contradicts and subsequently discredits herself. Both routes will suggest that Krasner and the ideological views presented in her article represent the extremism and intolerance SJP and other pro-justice organizations work against, but I will choose the latter route and deal solely with the article’s slanderous content.
Krasner, who genuinely believes several neighborhoods in the United Kingdom are “Shariah Controlled Zones” run by Muslims fantasizing about victorious battles against the Crusaders, vaguely argues that the SJP Conference to be held at Columbia University serves to delegitimize Israel through direct yet stealthy jihad. In her own words, “[t]he Muslim Brotherhood actively supports and finances student organizations like SJP”. To Krasner, the conference, which she repeatedly calls a “training event”, is just another example of the “true mission of Islamists” being forced upon the American youth, and she feels compelled to put an end to it.
From the start, Krasner’s idea of SJP and campus solidarity is flawed by her obsession with the far-fetched idea that everything represents creeping Shariah unless it fully abides by and supports American and Israeli policy. By asserting that SJP serves to promote ‘radical Islam’, a term copped from the FOX network, Krasner reveals her misunderstanding of what it means to stand against Israel’s sustained abuse of Palestinian rights. The article mentions “SJP’s demands” but instead links to an unrelated article about the Palestinian Authority’s recent bid for statehood. What the article purposefully leaves out is that SJP’s real demands involve an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine and a restoration of human rights, equality, and self-sovereignty to all.
By framing the SJP Conference as tool to Islamicize the United States, Krasner attempts to shift attention away from the facts that exist on the ground in Palestine-Israel towards her Islamophobic fetishes. Her article makes no mention of the proposed objectives of the conference nor does it even recognize the existence of Israel’s occupation — which, in and of itself, is a cause for concern.
Krasner also goes on to accuse SJP of willfully accepting financial assistance from the Muslim Brotherhood. I challenge her and anyone that agrees with her article to prove this allegation. I guarantee no success. It is likely that she is referring to the funds the SJP National Committee has been collecting to offset the costs of putting together this convention, but such an allegation is baseless and only reflects the extent to which she will go to dirty the name and reputation of a movement committed to bringing down the prejudiced establishments she herself supports.
On the issue of money, the article states that the “[o]rganizers hope to raise $30,000 in preparation for the upcoming 2012 national campus event called ‘Israel Apartheid Week’”. Had Krasner bothered to read and understand the program for the conference, she would know that only one of the many planned workshops is centered on Israel Apartheid Week (IAW). The conference is indeed about confronting and overcoming apartheid, but IAW is just one of many strategies of doing so. The funds raised by SJP will be used to plant the seeds of nonviolent, skillful, and effective campus activism against injustice and apartheid.
In a last ditch attempt to undermine the imminent success of the SJP Conference, Krasner attempts to make the point that the conference violates Columbia University’s code of Civil Behavior and Community Standards. The article cites the following:
It is expected that in and out of the classroom, on and off campus, each student in the School of General Studies will act in an honest way and will respect the rights of others. Freedom of expression is an essential part of University life, but it does not include intimidation, threats of violence, or the inducement of others to engage in violence or in conduct which harasses others.
Krasner then goes on to applaud the following response by the National Conference on Jewish Affairs (NCJA):
Of course we will not be surprised to hear from President Bollinger and the Board that this is just a “student group” and the university is “not involved” and that this is “the free expression of ideas,” intellectual freedom” or even “art.” But we can no longer accept these excuses for what appears to be pure hatred and efforts to intimidate pro-Israel Jewish students and others who do not agree with SPJ’s views.
Again, the organization being referred to is SJP not SPJ. But looking beyond this blatant display of irresponsibility reveals even more irresponsibility. Here is an already-discredited contingency calling on Columbia University to shut down the conference and to deny students their right to free speech and expression even though the conference violates in no way any of the standards set forth by Columbia University’s behavioral codes. What makes this even more disturbing is that Krasner and NCJA have the nerve to make these statements just after ten students were prosecuted for merely interrupting an inherently offensive speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren for a total of less than one minute.
But more importantly, neither Krasner or NCJA provide any evidence as to how this conference intimidates pro-Israel Jewish students. The conference is not anti-Israel and, thus, it is not an anti-pro-Israel-Jewish-student conference. Rather, the conference is pro-justice, and it just so happens that the concept of justice — which includes equality, accountability, human rights, and more — does not align at all with conventional Israeli policy. It is not SJP’s fault that Israel occupies Palestine, but the students involved with SJP have taken on the responsibility of combating the hatred and intolerance that allows the occupation to exist. If Kramer truly considers this unethical, intimidating, or threatening, then the only segment of the global population she seeks to defend are the ones who already violate Columbia University’s behavioral and community codes. (At this time, I invite you to read the comments following the article, one of which implicitly commends Anders Breivik’s Islamophobic and murderous ideology.)
Krasner’s article serves as both an Islamophobic and dramatically deceitful libel against a large union of Muslim, Jewish, Christian, religious, and irreligious students who have dedicated themselves to resisting injustice with ambition, intellect, and the rule of law. There is no jihad at play and the SJP Conference, with its public records and all, is definitely not a breeding ground for fundamentalism of any sort. Immortal Technique is not “seducing” students to the event and the Muslim Brotherhood does not exist within Columbia University’s walls. The first ever National SJP Conference itself is proof that apartheid and occupation will soon come to an end, and Krasner’s attempt to defame this planned gathering of student activists will not in any way hinder the manifestation of this outcome.