Mr Gingrich told the Jewish Channel, a US cable network, that Palestinians were not a people separate from Arabs because they never had a state and because they were part of the Ottoman Empire before the British mandate and Israel’s creation.

He also said it was “delusional” to call the stalled Middle East negotiations – which are aimed towards a two-state solution that grants Palestinian statehood – a “peace process”.

Republican candidates have been competing with each other in recent days to strike the most pro-Israeli line in an attempt to win the vote of conservative evangelicals, who are an influential electoral bloc and strongly support the state of Israel.

But Mr Gingrich’s comments, the toughest language any of the candidates have used on the Middle East, caused controversy even on the Right.

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