Closer India-Palestine ties after Abbas' visit

At a time when India has elevated its engagement with Israel, with Narendra Modi all set to become the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel in July, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’ four days visit to India from May 14 to 17 was viewed as a calibrated effort by the Indian government to reinvent the relationship between India and Palestine.

This was precisely the reason that Modi emphasised New Delhi’s commitment “to see the realisation of a sovereign, independent, united and viable Palestine, co-existing peacefully with Israel.” The two leaders also held a detailed discussion on a wide range of issues, with India and Palestine signing five important agreements in the spheres of health, IT, agriculture and youth affairs.

Indeed, ever since having become one of the first countries to recognise Palestine in 1988, India has played a proactive role in garnering support for the Palestinian cause in several important forums. However, it is equally true that India’s policy towards Palestine started swiftly changing in the post-Cold War era.

This became much clearer when in 1992 the Narsimha Rao government established full diplomatic relations with Israel, causing extreme tremors in India-Palestine relationship.

The A B Vajpayee government further fostered closer engagement with Israel. The UPA government, while publicly acknowledging its support to the Palestinian Authority, also continued to expand cooperation with Israel privately.

When Modi became prime minister, India decided to give up its unwillingness of publicly acknowledging Israel as its trusted friend. This soon became apparent when Modi met his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2014. The meeting prompted Netanyahu to say that “the sky is the limit”, as far as India-Israel relations are concerned.

On July 3, 2015 India decided to abstain from voting on a UN Human Right Council (UNHRC) resolution condemning Israel for its “alleged war crimes” during the 2014 Gaza conflict. It was the first time when India took such a step on the Israel issue at an international forum.

Though the Indian government defended its decision to abstain, saying it is not a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC), it greatly angered Palatine and the Arab states.

Palestinian flag
Realising the growing resentment against India in Palestine and in the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), the Modi government expressed its continued support the Palestine cause and also voted in favour of the Palestinian flag being unfurled at the UN in September 2015.

President Pranab Mukherjee visited Palestine in October 2015 and reiterated that friendship with the people of Palestine has become an integral part of Indian foreign policy. The President also handed over a cheque of $5 million to the Palestinian government as budgetary support and announced five projects worth $17.79 million aimed at capacity building in the Palestinian territories.

Later, Modi travelled to the UAE and Saudi Arabia on July 10, 2015 to assure these countries that there was no shift in India’s position on the Arab-Israel conflict. India also signed a Brics declaration in Ufa, Russia, rejecting “the continuous Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Territories, which violate international law and seriously undermine peace efforts and threaten the concept of the two state solution.” Palestine was also a part of the two day visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and she reiterated India’s support to the Palestine cause.

By hosting President Abbas’ state visit, the Modi government has once again tried to placate the growing concerns of the Palestinian leadership about India building ties with Israel at the cost of India-Palestine relations. Modi has also wanted to use the Abass’ visit to quail any possible resentment in the Arab states at his visit to Israel, thereby protecting India’s economic, energy, strategic and other interests in this region.

At the same time, Abbas’ visit has also enabled Modi to silence opposition parties to criticise his visit to Israel.
While Abbas’ visit has energised the relationship between India and Palestine, the biggest challenge for the two countries is to maintain the momentum, especially in the light of the deepening bonhomie between India and Israel. One can only hope that Modi’s visit to Israel would be successful in promoting the opening of a new channel for the reconciliation process between Israel and Palestine.

(The writer is with the UGC Centre for Southern Asia Studies, Pondicherry University)