Saturday, December 10, 2011

Gingrich Tells Truth about ‘Palestine’—MSM Goes in a Dither

Barry Rubin

One of the cardinal rules of politics: you’re not supposed to tell the truth, only polite lies.

One of the pleasures of Newt Gingrich is that he occasionally disobeys this rule. He did so again in an interview with The Jewish Channel that has set the world in a dither, by saying such things as: It’s “delusional to call it a peace process,” claiming that the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority and Hamas alike “represent an enormous desire to destroy Israel.”

Well, duh. Didn’t Yasser Arafat, the head of Fatah, walk out on the peace talks when he had ninety percent (or more) of what he said he wanted and start Intifada II? Doesn’t their current head Abu Abbas stay as far from the peace table as possible, looking for every excuse not to talk, as if he had some undisclosed allergy? And, most obviously, doesn’t the Hamas Charter call directly for the extermination of Israel?

Unfortunately, except for a handful of Palestinians, most of them don’t want a two-state solution. They want a one-state solution.

That’s the truth that “polite politicians,” unlike Gingrich, don’t want to talk about; but, in actuality, until it’s stated clearly and faced, nothing will change. (Hello, Leon Panetta)

Gingrich is doing a service in that regard, just as he is doing a service in pointing out the historical truth that almost no one referred to Palestinians as a people until after Israel was established. They were just Arabs in the area. Now they get to have a state, assuming that’s what they really want. The jury is still way out on that one.

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