RAMALLAH, December 10, 2011 (WAFA) – The PLO and Fatah strongly criticized on Saturday statements made by US Republican Party presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, in which he said the Palestinian people were “invented.”

Gingrich, speaking on The Jewish Channel, a US cable station, said “I think we have had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs.”

He said Hamas and the Palestinian Authority “represent an enormous desire to destroy Israel.” He criticized President Mahmoud Abbas for not recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.

Reacting to Gingrich statements, member of the PLO Executive Committee Hanan Ashrawi told Voice of Palestine radio the Gingrich “lost touch with reality.” She said his statements show “ignorance and bigotry,” and “a cheap way to win pro-Israel vote.”

Fatah’s Revolutionary Council member Dimitri Diliani described Gingrich’s remarks as “reflective of the ignorant, provocative and racist nature of Mr. Gingrich.”

He said in a statement that “the Palestinian people descended from the Canaanite tribe of the Jebusites that inhabited the ancient site of Jerusalem as early as 3200 B.C.E., what leaves us with the fact that Gingrich remarks are ignorant of the basic historical facts of the Middle East.”

Diliani warned that statements such as those made by Gingrich fuel Israeli settlers’ rhetoric “that supports the on-going genocide against the Palestinian civilian population.”

He said Gingrich’s method of seeking pro-Israel vote by such remarks was “a pathetic political scheme that jeopardizes peace and stability in the region.”

In the interview, Gingrich described the peace process as “delusional.”

He described himself as “being pretty close to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Bibi Netanyahu in thinking about the dangers of the world,” adding “Bibi’s a really tough guy, and he’s a guy who puts Israel’s security first.”

M.S.