India can't continue Israel-Palestine balancing policy for long: Former diplomat Sarna

Jaipur: Former diplomat Navtej Sarna on Friday said India has maintained its balancing act with Israel and Palestine for a long time but raised doubts if it can continue to do so in the aftermath of the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Speaking at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival, Sarna said the increasing exchange between India and Israel, especially since the terror attack in 2023, has defined India's position as it "abstained from some resolutions" that "the global South" took against Israel.

The former diplomat said the Indian position on Israel has evolved quite distinctly and in stages over the last 75 years. He said India was never in favour of the partition of Palestine or of the formation of a state based on religion.

"Currently, India has a very strong relationship with Israel, both in strategy and diplomatic terms. And India has largely been careful to balance this with its support for the Palestinian cause both in terms of aid and statements in the UN," Sarna "It is inevitable that you cannot maintain this balance. In recent years, there has been a very close government to government connect between India and Israel. Israel is today arguably your second largest supplier of defence equipment," he added.

The increasing exchange between the two countries, especially since the Hamas attack, has defined India's position, as it "abstained from some resolutions" that "the global South" took against Israel.

Novelist Pankaj Mishra and British Palestinian writer Selma Dabbagh also addressed the session.

Mishra, who has written "The World After Gaza", argued that India has "squandered" an opportunity to reassert itself as a "moral force" in international politics.

"I think I was one of the earliest people to think India should model itself after Israel. But after I met Palestinians, read about its history, my position was rectified. India of that time and even afterwards was still fully committed to it. I think politicians and popular culture, there was a lot of sympathy for the Palestinians," Mishra said.

He added that it could be seen that high-level visits were taking place and there was a degree of cultural exchange too.

"In many ways, that position of moral solidarity with Palestine also gave India a kind of moral leadership in the wider world which was also a position that was very successfully maintained by Nehru and others.

"I feel like we have squandered it. Today, India's out of step even with a nuanced position that Navtej described with global sentiment on this issue," he said.

The author of "From the Ruins of Empire" added that it's only a minority of people that is supporting and enabling what Israel is doing today.

"Public sympathy around the world is overwhelmingly disgusted by it and on this issue, it suddenly feels like even if India is not actively supporting or enabling, it seems like it lost an opportunity to reassert itself as a moral force in international politics," he said.

JLF this year features a lineup of over 300 luminaries such as Nobel laureates, Booker Prize-winners, journalists, policymakers, and acclaimed writers.

The participants include Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Dufflo, Amol Palekar, Ira Mukhoty, Geetanjali Shree, David Hare, Manav Kaul, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Yuvan Aves, Shahu Patole, and Kallol Bhattacharjee.