In an interview with The Jewish Channel, former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, stated that the entire basis of the Israeli-Arab conflict is off because the Palestinians are an "invented people."

"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state – (it was) part of the Ottoman Empire. I think we have an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and historically part of the Arab community and they had the chance to go many places," Gingrich said.

Gingrich did qualify his remarks earlier by explaining that he is in favor of a two-state solution to the current conflict, but stressed that it is the Palestinians who must prove they really want peace and compromise on their demands in order to achieve it.

"And now many nations have been assembled against you who say, 'Let her be polluted, and let our eyes gloat over Zion'. But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, and they do not understand His purpose...He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor." Micah 4