Palestine-Israel conflict: India reiterates its 'unwavering commitment to the two-State solution'

Decision comes much to the disappointment of the Right-wing back home which had been voicing solidarity with Israel as tensions escalated last week in the Levant

India’s nuanced statement reflects the balancing act that New Delhi has to do to maintain its historic ties with Palestine and nurture its newer but deepening relationship with Israel: File picture

Special Correspondent   |  TT  |   New Delhi   |  18.05.21: India on Sunday supported “the just Palestinian cause’’ and reiterated its “unwavering commitment to the two-State solution’’ in a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in West Asia much to the disappointment of the Right-wing back home which had been voicing solidarity with Israel as tensions escalated last week in the Levant.

India’s nuanced statement reflects the balancing act that New Delhi has to do to maintain its historic ties with Palestine and nurture its newer but deepening relationship with Israel.

The statement refers to the trigger of this latest crisis — the eviction of some Arab families by Israel from East Jerusalem — condemns the “indiscriminate rocket firings’’ from Gaza, calls Israel’s bombings on Palestinian territory as “retaliatory’’, and makes no mention of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

In this open meeting of the UNSC, India’s permanent representative at the United Nations in New York, T.S. Tirumurti, iterated what he had said in the closed meetings on the issue over the past week. “In both these meetings, we had expressed our deep concern over violence in Jerusalem, especially on Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount during the holy month of Ramadan, and about the possible eviction process in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, an area which is part of an arrangement facilitated by the UN,’’ he said.

While acknowledging Israeli actions in East Jerusalem to evict Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan as part of its project of “systemic Judaisation’’ of the area as the trigger, India clearly condemns the rocket firings from Gaza. “The indiscriminate rocket firings from Gaza targeting the civilian population in Israel, which we condemn, and the retaliatory strikes into Gaza, have caused immense suffering and resulted in deaths, including women and children”, clearly accepting Israel’s contention that it is acting in self-defence.

Calling for “immediate de-escalation’’, India has urged both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions, and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood.

Further, according to India, last week’s incidents have once again underscored the need for immediate resumption of dialogue between the Israel and Palestinian authorities.

“The absence of direct and meaningful negotiations between the parties is widening the trust deficit between the parties. This will only increase the chances for similar escalation in future. We believe that every effort should be made to create conducive conditions for resumption of talks between Israel and Palestine,’’ Tirumurti said.

Former diplomat Talmiz Ahmad, however, felt that the statement fell short on various counts and that India lost the opportunity to assert its considered and principled position of yore in the UNSC of which New Delhi is currently a non-permanent member. “India failed to assert the principled position it has held till 2015 for a sovereign independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital,’’ he said.

This, according to Ahmad, is symptomatic of a larger shift in India’s foreign policy under the Narendra Modi government; particularly in its second term. “We do not see India taking principled positions on regional or global issues. We have become insular, and more interested in pandering to domestic politics.’’

While batting for maintaining status quo in East Jerusalem despite continuing with the silence on it being made the capital of the future Palestinian state, India also sought to underscore its own links with Jerusalem as a whole.

“It also houses the Al Zawiyya Al Hindiyya — The Indian Hospice, which is a historic place associated with a great Indian Sufi saint Baba Farid and located inside the Old City. India has restored this Indian Hospice. The historic status quo at the holy places of Jerusalem, including the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount, must be respected,’’ Tirumurti said.

He also made a reference to the death of an Indian caregiver working in Israel, Soumya Santhosh, in the rocket fire in Ashkelon early last week. The Right-wing in India had sought to make political capital of her death.

On Sunday, beleaguered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted out a thank you message to 25 countries “for resolutely standing with and supporting our right to self defence against terrorist attacks’’. He named the countries by including their flags, and India was not among them.