By Shoshana Bryen ~

The Palestinians are an “invented people,” Newt Gingrich said.  Response to this simple truth splits into two directions – those who accuse the former House Speaker and presidential candidate of racism, ignorance, Islamophobia and hatred; and those who say its true, but…  The “but” is generally either that it doesn’t matter because the Palestinians are here now and their demands carry weight now; or it doesn’t matter because everyone is an “invented people.”  The “but” group requires a response.
Group identity is not invented, although group history may be. Some groups do indeed emerge through shared experiences, but some people who live together for a long time never assume a shared identity. Think “New Soviet Man,” a construct the USSR pressed assiduously and with a heavy hand for decades, but which withered with the collapse of the structure.  Yugoslavia split in bloody carnage.  Identity as Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Serb or Georgian trumped Soviet or Yugoslav.  Kurds are not Turks or Iraqis or Syrians, resisting (sometimes forced) assimilation. The “Iraqi” construct is tenuous right now and transnational Islamic streams have caused havoc in Lebanon and elsewhere.
Jew.  American.  Why some identities survive and others do not belies the simplicity of “invention.”  Who would the European settlers of North America have been if they had tossed their Bibles and their Sabbath, donned loincloth and announced that they were now Onondaga, Mohawk, Wampanoag and Piankashaw?  Interestingly, “American” is something one can become – Chinese, Russian, German or Choctaw is not.
In the case of Palestinians, the effort to build an identity separate from other Arabs – including Jordanians, many of whom share family and tribal ties as well as language, religion and history – the question is not “can they,” or “did they,” but rather, “what did they appropriate as the basis for their own identity, and from whom?”
Israel is on the receiving end of “delegitimization” tactics, in which the Jewishness of the land of Israel is denied and the history itself is appropriated by others.  The admission of “Palestine” to UNESCO comes with approval of the process of renaming Jewish history as “Palestinian.”  The Jewish holy site at the Tomb of Rachel is now a mosque; the Cave of Machpelah (the burial place of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs) may be next.  The Temple Mount’s Jewish history is loudly denied by the Palestinians and Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad calls Jerusalem the birthplace of the world’s two great religions: Christianity and Islam.  Tel Aviv, invented in the empty desert in 1909 (there is a fabulous photo of the dedication in which Jewish men in full Western suits, ties and hats stand on a sand dune with shovels), is called a Palestinian city in Palestinian textbooks.  A Jewish connection to Gaza and the Golan Heights proven by archeology and historical text is denied.
The Palestinians could have said, “Yes, we needed to raise the consciousness of our own children; to take our history into our own hands after the Ottoman Turks were ousted; and to find a way to relate to Zionism and to the Jewish history of this region, so we have deliberately disassociated ourselves from the larger Arab people.” They could have said, “Like Americans, we are a people who choose their association as Palestinians and we accept that our roots come from various places, but our political choices bring us together. Like Americans, we will have a shared future rather than a physically shared past.”  Such efforts at self-identification could be interesting and possibly noble.
But because Palestinian-ism is largely attached to the destruction of the Jewish people’s identity in the historic homeland of the Jewish people, and is attached to the appropriation of Jewish history in the land, it should be called what it is – an “invented” identity.  As such, it is appropriate for Israel and relevant parts of the world – including particularly the United States and Europe, who fund the PA – to demand of the Palestinians that they build their people, their history and their narrative in accordance with the truth.

Shoshana Bryen has more than 30 years’ experience as a defense policy analyst and has been taking American military officers and defense professionals to Israel since 1982 and Jordan since 2004. She was previously senior director for security policy at JINSA.