Invented people

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Peninsula readers' letters: Dec. 21

From Daily News Group readers
Posted: 12/20/2011 05:29:18 PM PST
Updated: 12/20/2011 11:06:24 PM PST






Invented people'

Dear Editor: Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich stood by his assertion that the Palestinians are an "invented people." His use of the term "invented people" when referring to the Palestinian people is derogatory. Gingrich sought to court the pro-Israel vote by claiming the Palestinians do not deserve a state. This is a distortion of history; a historical and cultural misappropriation of a nation's past and future for political gain.

Currently, there are almost 4 million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation within the occupied territories, and an additional 1.5 million living inside Israel itself. I have long supported the right of Israel to exist. I firmly believe Israeli citizens have a fundamental right to be able to live their lives in peace and security, free from the loud bang, the searing heat and explosion of a random car bomb or suicide bomber.

However, Palestinians have this right also, for they are people dispossessed, a people whose only desire is a homeland where they too can live with their families, free from fear of the helicopter gunship and nighttime raids, free from the cloud of phosphorous gas that burns their children's throats and lungs.

Ted Rudow III, MA

Palo Alto