Farah: Is Newt Wrong About 'Palestinians'?

Newt Gingrich has been taking heat for the statement he made about the "Palestinians" being an "invented" people.

"We have had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs," Gingrich said in an interview with The Jewish Channel, a cable-television network.

"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state – (it was) part of the Ottoman Empire. I think we have an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and historically part of the Arab community and they had the chance to go many places."

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum both took Gingrich to task for his remarks, with Romney suggesting Gingrich should have talked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before making such a provocative statement.
Actually, no such conference call should be necessary.

Long ago, I wrote about the indisputable historic reality raised by Gingrich, and Mr. Netanyahu liked it so much, he posted it on his website with approving comments where it remains to this day.

Newt is absolutely right about this. I'm not surprised Romney got weak in the knees over it, but Santorum's reaction is somewhat surprising.

Speaking the truth should never be a problem. Most of our trouble in the Middle East has been created because policies are being guided by myths rather than facts.

I wrote that column about the "Myths of the Middle East" about 11 years ago and updated it earlier this year. Personally, I'm glad at least one prominent U.S. politician has taken these words to heart.

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[Joseph Farah is the founder of WorldNetDaily.com, an independent news company, and is an Arab-American-- Editor]