PM Modi hit the right notes with Israel and Palestine

During his four-day visit to India last month, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a detailed discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a wide range of issues, with India and Palestine signing five important agreements in the spheres of health, IT, agriculture and youth affairs. PM Modi also emphasised India’s commitment “to see the realisation of a sovereign, independent, united and viable Palestine, coexisting peacefully with Israel.”

PM Modi’s statement seemed quite refreshing in view of the fact that in the last three years while India’s policy towards Palestine has remained lukewarm, India-Israel relations have significantly deepened with the Indian government deciding to give up its unwillingness to publicly acknowledge Israel as its trusted friend. This first became apparent when PM 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 Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution condemning Israel for its “alleged war crimes” during the 2014 Gaza conflict. It was the first time 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 Palestine and the Arab States.

Realising the growing resentment against India in Palestine and in the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Modi government expressed its continued support for 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, PM Modi travelled to the UAE and Saudi Arabia on July 10, 2015, to assure these countries that there is 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.”

By hosting President Abbas’ state visit, the Modi government has tried to placate the growing concerns of the Palestinian leadership about India building ties with Israel at the cost of India-Palestine relations. PM Modi has also wanted to use the occasion to quell any possible resentment in the Arab States over 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 who criticised his visit to Israel.

While Abbas’ visit has energised the relationship between India and Palestine, the biggest challenge facing the two countries is to maintain the momentum, keeping in view the deepening bonhomie between India and Israel.

One can only hope the Indian PM’s visit to Israel would be successful in promoting the opening of a new channel for the reconciliation process between Israel and Palestine.

The author is Senior Researcher at the UGC Centre for Southern Asia Studies