India’s Ties With Israel Won’t Come At Cost Of Its Support For Palestine: Expert

New Delhi has reasserted its long-standing position on the Israel-Palestine issue and called for a two-state solution, demonstrating how the former’s close ties with Israel “don’t come at the cost of India’s support for Palestine.”

In a tweet Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he spoke to the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and added that India would continue to send humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, who have been pounded by airstrikes for the last two weeks as part of the Israeli military’s retaliation to the Hamas attack.

“Spoke to the President of the Palestinian Authority H.E. Mahmoud Abbas,” Modi wrote on Twitter. “Conveyed my condolences at the loss of civilian lives at the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza. We will continue to send humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people. Shared our deep concern at the terrorism, violence and deteriorating security situation in the region. Reiterated India’s long-standing principled position on the Israel-Palestine issue.”

India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, also said during a Thursday press briefing that the country condemned the terror attacks against Israel, but stressed the importance of a two-state solution in the decades-long conflict.

“We have strongly condemned the horrific terrorist attack on Israel. The international community must stand together in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” Bagchi said. “There was also the issue of Palestine and on that, we have reiterated our position in favor of direct negotiations for establishing a two-state solution.”

India has always been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, with past governments refusing to entertain a formal diplomatic relationship with Israel for a long time. India only began establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, and over the years, New Delhi went from being unequivocally supportive of the Palestinian cause to de-hyphenating Israel and Palestine.

Although New Delhi has cultivated strong ties with Israel, it has still maintained its principled support for the sovereign state of Palestine.

“India has been consistent in its principled support for an independent, viable and sovereign state of Palestine. Even in the current conflict, India has not wavered from this position,” Colonel Rajeev Agarwal (Retd.), Assistant Director at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, told International Business Times.

Immediately after the Hamas attack, India expressed solidarity with Israel. Modi also had a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a couple of days after the Hamas attack to show support for the country’s close friend.

Israel “is a strategic ally of India, which has stood by India in its most difficult times whether it was the Kargil War of 1999 or the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. Also, India’s ties with Israel don’t come at the cost of India’s support for Palestine,” Agarwal said.

Moreover, India’s immediate show of support to Israel also comes out of its own experiences with terrorism.

“India has been a strong votary of anti-terrorrism and has a strong position against terrorism globally,” Harsh Pant, author and Vice President — Studies and Foreign Policy at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), told IBT.

“India has therefore taken a strong position against what the Hamas has done. At the same time, India has continued to insist on the two-state solution model,” he added.

Since the renewed conflagration of violence triggered by the Hamas attack, the Indian diplomacy “has balanced its position through a realistic re-calibration of its traditional stand on the Israel-Palestine issue,” said Vivek Mishra, a fellow with ORF’s Strategic Studies Programme.

“If anything, India has separated the chaff from the grain by calling out Hamas’ act of terrorism,” he added.

Although India has a good rapport with both the Israeli and Palestinian leadership, it is unlikely but not impossible that it will play a direct role in peacemaking.

“Given that India has not been historically involved in mediation in the Arab-Israeli or Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor has it any direct stakes, it appears unlikely that New Delhi will undertake a vocal diplomatic initiative towards mediation,” Md. Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, told IBT.

“Nonetheless, given India’s rising international profile, its diplomatic rapport with both sides, and its growing interests in the region, it might be a good time to initiate a diplomatic endeavor towards seeking a role for India. But given the complexity of the conflict, it would certainly be a long and arduous process, which means, both resources and inclination for such a diplomatic enterprise would be a prerequisite,” he added.

Mishra also believes there is space for India to play a peacemaking role in the region if New Delhi wishes to.

“There is a diplomatic space for India to intervene and position a much more nuanced position and option for meditation than the west can provide. It stems from India’s long standing support for a two state solution as well as a staunch partnership with Israel,” Mishra said.

While India does not have direct stakes in the Israel-Palestine conflict, its foreign policy will still undergo some stress, especially if other Arab countries get more involved.

“In recent years, one of the biggest successes of the Modi government’s foreign policy has been in the Middle East, where the relations between India and the Arab states, like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have been completely transformed,” Pant said.

The normalization of ties between Israeli and Arab countries, which the U.S. helped broker, has helped India’s own policies in the region. However, the ongoing violence could throw a wrench into the normalizing of ties between Israel and Arab nations, which could in turn pose challenges for India, especially considering ambitious projects like the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC).

“As the fault lines between the Arab states and Israel re-appear because of what is happening in Gaza, I think Indian foreign policy will come under stress. There will be challenges for India as it moves forward,” Pant said.