#dnaEdit: Going to Israel

Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj’s announcement that Narendra Modi will visit Israel and Palestine, the first by an Indian Prime Minister, is sure to cause immense excitement in the media, and among foreign policy and strategy experts. Most of the observers will downplay the Palestine part of the visit, and focus exclusively on the Israel part. They are likely to overplay the proposed visit of Modi to Tel Aviv, and see it as an example of the coming together of two “fiercely democratic countries in troubled neighbourhoods”. There is also the subtext that India and Israel, along with the United States, are natural allies in the fight against global Islamic terrorism. 

It is most likely that there will be  strong criticism of Modi’s decision to go to Israel. The critics will see the decision as an attempt by the right-wing BJP to woo the Jewish State. They will infer that the closer India gets to Israel, the greater will be the gulf between India and the Arab and Muslim countries. Further, this will also be seen as a clear signal that India is going to abandon the Palestinian cause and drop the demand for a Palestinian State.

It is also interesting that Modi and his Israeli counterpart Binyamin Netanyahu, are considered right-wing hard liners, and that the two will bond with each other because of this. It is true that personalities and personal rapport do play a key role in international relations. It should be recalled that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had enjoyed a close friendship with former US President George Bush though their ideological world-views were not exactly the same. Similarly, Modi and US President Barack Obama had forged a rare personal chemistry but it has not dissolved the real hurdles in India-US relations. Modi and Netanyahu may become friends but it will not be a sufficient basis for improving India-Israel ties.  

Unfortunately, the public debate on India-Israel relations will run along the predictable lines of deeply-rooted biases in the context of Modi’s visit to Israel and Palestine. Fortunately, India-Israel, India-Palestine relations are more complicated than partisans in India are willing to concede.   

The interesting part, however, is how Israelis and Palestinians look at the India-Israel relations. Palestine is not opposed to India’s closer relationship with Israel, and it does not believe that Palestine would lose out in the process. As a matter of fact, Palestinian leaders think that India will be able to exert pressure on Israel on behalf of Palestine. Similarly, Israeli leaders feel that India will be an ideal mediator with the Palestinians, and with the Arab countries in general. 

It is not just the BJP which was keen to improve ties with Israel because of its mistaken notion that successive Congress governments kept the Jewish State at an arm’s length. It is overlooked that India upgraded its diplomatic relations with Israel after the Oslo accords were signed in 1994 where Israel and Palestine agreed to the two-State solution.  

Neither Swaraj, who will visit Israel and Palestine before the PM’s trip, nor Modi can move too far away from the India’s stated stance on the two-State solution to the Israel-Palestine problem. It would be better if Indian intelligentsia understands the unique position of India in West Asia, where it enjoys the trust of all the parties — Palestine, Israel and the Arab governments in the region. Clearly, India does not want to take on the responsibility of playing the mediator in the diplomatic minefield that West Asia represents.