http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0502-11.htm
Congressman Calls for Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians Muslims urged to contact congressman to demands retraction, apology
WASHINGTON - May 2 - CAIR is calling on all people of conscience to contact House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) to demand that he retract his call for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Last night on MSNBC's "Hardball," host Chris Matthews had the following dialogue with Rep. Armey: ARMEY: I'm content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank.
MATTHEWS: Well, where do you put the Palestinian state, in Norway? Once the Israelis take back the West Bank permanently and annex it, there's no place else for the Palestinians to have a state.
ARMEY: No, no, that's not--that's not at all true. There are many Arab nations that have many hundreds of thousands of acres of land and--and soil and property and opportunity to create a Palestinian state.
MATTHEWS: So you would transport--you would transport the Palestinians from Palestine to somewhere else and call it their state?
ARMEY: I would be perfectly content to have a homeland, just as--most of...
MATTHEWS: But not in Palestine?
ARMEY: Most of the people who now populate Israel were transported from all over the world to that land and they made it their home. The Palestinians can do the same, and we're per--perfectly content to work with the Palestinians in doing that...
MATTHEWS: Right, no. No, that's not the question and that's not your answer. The question here is: What is the future of the Palestinians who are fighting Israel right now? You say there future is somewhere besides Palestine. That runs in the way of US policy going back to 1948. It runs--it runs completely against the president's policy and every policy I've heard a president take, which is that Israel has to give up its settlements on the West Bank and give it back to the Arabs in exchange for peace. You say the deal should be the Palestinians leave?
ARMEY: That's right...I happened to believe that the Palestinians should leave.
MATTHEWS: Have you ever told George Bush, the president from your home state of Texas, that you think the Palestinians should get up and go and leave Palestine and that's the solution?
ARMEY: I'm probably telling him that right now.
MATTHEWS: Well, just to repeat, you believe that the Palestinians who are now living on the West Bank should get out of there?
ARMEY: Yes.
"It is beyond belief that Representative Armey would openly call for the ethnic cleansing of the entire Muslim and Christian Palestinian population, something that violates every norm of international law and human rights. Even the most extreme Israelis are reluctant to publicly advocate such an insane policy," said CAIR Governmental Affairs Director Jason Erb.
Erb demanded an immediate retraction and apology from Armey. He said CAIR has received many complaints about Armey's remarks.