Post date: Jul 31, 2012 10:27:37 AM
JERUSALEM (FILE) (REUTERS) - Palestinians accused U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of racism on Tuesday (July 31) by suggesting disparities between the Israeli and Palestinian economies had cultural roots, while ignoring Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
Palestinians accuse U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of racism.
Palestinians also accused Romney of undermining peace prospects by calling Jerusalem "the capital of Israel", ignoring their own claims to the city and most world opinion.
Romney used the term on Sunday (July 29), to sustained applause from his Israeli audience in the Holy City, during a trip to present himself as Israel's closest ally ahead of the Nov. 6 election contest with President Barack Obama.
"It seems to me that Mr. Romney needs alot of education, he needs to be educated about this region, its history, its culture, its conflict, its reconciliation attempts because the first day his statements torpedoed the peace process when he declared from his side that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and he knows that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, this is international law, this is a U.S. position," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters on Tuesday (July 31).
Israel seized eastern Jerusalem during a 1967 war. A U.N Security Council resolution condemns a 1980 Israeli law that declared Jerusalem the "complete and undivided" capital of the country as a violation of international law.
Most countries, including the United States, have not recognised Israel's declaration and have kept their embassies in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Previous U.S. presidential candidates, including Senator Obama in June 2008, have referred to Jerusalem as Israel's capital ahead of elections, only to row back when taking power and suggest the issue should be resolved by negotiations.
In a speech to fundraisers in Jerusalem on Monday (July 30), Romney said Israel's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was about twice that of the Palestinians.He said Israel's GDP per capita was $21,000, while for Palestinians it was $10,000, and called it "a dramatic, stark difference in economic vitality".
Erekat told Reuters that Romney's comments amounted to "racism".
"He compared the Israeli GDP and its advanced of the Palestinian GDP because he said that Israel's culture is advanced than Palestinian culture. In this region we call this racism and Mr. Romney's knowledge about the Palestinian's economy not reaching potential, to reach its potential the Palestinian economy must be free of the Israeli occupation. This is basic knowledge. I believe Mr. Romney's statements will serve for a long time those extremists in the region".
Romney made no reference to Israel's tight control of most territory where Palestinians live, the West Bank, since capturing it in a 1967 war. Western-backed peace talks aimed at Palestinians establishing a state there collapsed in 2010.
The figures Romney gave also seemed at odds with Western estimates suggesting the GDP gap is in effect much wider, with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimating Israel's at $31,400 in 2011, and the Palestinians' at about $2,900 for 2008.
Romney went on to say at the event where he reportedly raised more than $1 million for his campaign, that "if you could learn anything from the economic history of the world it's this: culture makes all the difference.... I recognise the hand of providence in selecting this place".
Romney did not travel to the nearby West Bank during his two-day stay in Israel, finding time only for a brief meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He later flew to Poland on the last leg of his international tour.
Seeking American Jewish and fundamentalist Christian votes, Romney has criticised Obama on Israel, alleging last year that the president had "thrown Israel under a bus" in pushing hard for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.