Tibi slams US Republicans over Israel remarks

Arab MK writes op-ed in US newspaper accusing Cantor, Gingrich, Bachmann of “hysterical vitriol” against Palestinians.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Ahmed Tibi_311 (photo credit: Reuters/Mahfouz Abu Turk)
Ahmed Tibi_311
(photo credit: Reuters/Mahfouz Abu Turk)
American presidential candidates display arrogance and hypocrisy toward the Palestinians, MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta’al) wrote in an op-ed for the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Wednesday.
Tibi, who identifies as a Palestinian and is a former political adviser to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, accused House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) of holding all Palestinians “responsible for the violence of a few.”
RELATED:GOP hopefuls face off on ‘Palestinian’ commentsRepublicans talk tough on Iran, vie for Jewish vote“A man living in a glass home ought not to throw such stones,” Tibi wrote. “Cantor ignored the fact that Americans engaged in genocidal violence and enslavement when establishing the United States of America… [and he] says not a word about Richmond neighborhoods that still extol the virtues of Confederate leaders who fought to uphold slavery.”
The Arab MK’s article in the Virginia newspaper came after Cantor said Palestinians had a “culture of resentment and hatred” of Israel and that they must prove they deserve a state, remarks that Tibi called “hysterical vitriol.”
Tibi wrote that “the world begins to understand the cruelty of Israel’s subjugation of the Palestinians” and that Israel used $3 billion each year to “steal Palestinian land through military might.”
“Americans, I believe, are better than this,” he wrote, adding that the US supported the Arab Spring. He also said he had confidence that the US would support Palestinian statehood.
According to Tibi, the US should strengthen nonviolent Palestinian opposition to “Israeli domination,” which he said Cantor did not see as problematic.
The Arab MK cited Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s comments that the Palestinians were an “invented people,” retorting that Americans were “every bit as invented, perhaps more, as they come from every corner of the globe.”
In addition, he noted, Republican candidate Michele Bachmann had said “Palestinian so-called refugees” should not be given the right of return.
He expressed pessimism that Democrats would be better for the Palestinians, however, explaining that the two parties were competing to show who was more pro-Israel – a situation he called a “recipe for disaster.”