Gautam Sen
An impression seemed to be gaining ground in the recent past, among observers in West Asia and also in India‘s domestic political environment, that India‘s Palestine policy in general and also policy towards the Palestinian National Authority (known as Palestine Authority in common parlance), is undergoing a slow but gradual shift. The warmth of the earlier years, particularly of the Congress era and UPA government period, seemed to have dissipated. The angst of the Palestinians and their youth was evident when during the first official visit of an Indian Head of State to Palestine in October 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee had to face emotional outbursts at Al-Quds University (where he was to be conferred a doctorate ‘honoris causa‘) with the students shouting “— you have to listen to us —“. The Palestinian students were only demonstrating their unhappiness because India, which was the first non-Arab country to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people decades ago and had been upholding their cause over the years, had of late, not taken a forthright position that it used to adopt in earlier years on the issues of Palestinian autonomy, protection of their basic human rights and their legitimate right of self-governance.
The Palestinian disappointment and remonstration was especially in the backdrop of India‘s abstention in July 2015 when a Resolution was moved in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) (1) condemning Israel‘s punitive military action involving nearly a lakh of its regular and reservist defence personnel, against them through ‘Operation Protective Edge‘, aimed to quell the massive uprising in Gaza in 2014. The Palestinians also wanted to draw attention of India to their sufferings consequent on various restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on them such as, barring them from visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque – the third holiest site of Islam, and compound of Temple Mount which also locates the Muslims‘ revered Haram-el-Sharif site. The UNHRC Resolution of July 3, 2015 based on the investigation of UNHRC-sponsored Mary McGowan (USA) and Doudou Diene (Senegal) Commission report (2) , had condemned the violence in the Israeli-occupied areas, particularly in Gaza, which had led to more than 2000 deaths including of 1462 Palestinians, criticized both Israel and the HAMAS (the Palestinian group presently predominant in Gaza strip) (3), and sought a reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate on the culpability for the violence. President Mukherjee had responded during his above-mentioned visit to Palestine and Israel, by stating that India condemns all forms of violence and re-asserted the need for a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis. New Delhi however, had a raison-d‘etre for not voting in favour of the UNHRC Resolution which entailed intrusive investigation by the ICC (4) reckoning its impact on sovereignty of states.
There were expectations thereafter, with India‘s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj‘s visit to Palestine on January 17 this year (her itinerary also covered Israel) that, India would at least convey some re-assurances on its continuing support for Palestinian rights and statehood in the UN and other international fora, and for allowing the Palestinian Authority to function on developmental matters in its designated zones within overall and peripheral Israeli military control, for the present. Sushma Swaraj had appropriately mentioned at Ramallah (present administrative headquarters of Palestine Authority), in the beginning of her Palestine visit, that the entire Indian leadership remains steadfastly committed to the Palestinian cause, inter-alia indicating that India‘s principled support on the Palestine issue will continue unabated. This has been the de-facto position or consensus within Indian polity vis-à-vis Palestine, till recently. With the present Indian Govt. adopting a nuanced policy veering towards a more economic and defence – transaction oriented approach towards Israel, India‘s support for the inherent rights of Palestinians and their statehood, seemed to have entered a passive phase. If the two visits : of President Pranab Mukherjee‘s in October 2015 when, he reiterated the keen interest of his country in further deepening the rich and historic relationship with Palestine; and the recent January 2016 visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj indicating a domestic consensus-based approach on Palestine and New Delhi‘s advocacy of security both Israel and Palestine through dialogue and consultation, allays the apprehensions of the Palestinians and the Palestine Authority, this will be a welcome development.
Palestine Authority‘s Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, in the course of his discussions with his Indian counterpart during her recent visit, is reported to have solicited India‘s participation in the West Asia peace process to bring to bear India‘s wisdom and political insight to help diffuse the crisis in the region. As per reports in the public domain, while assuring the Palestine leadership on continuance of India‘s principled support to their cause, Sushma Swaraj did not indicate any intention towards active or even indirect Indian involvement in the West Asian peace process. This stance may be rationalised as India‘s attempt to isolate the country‘s core interests from external contestations. However, it must also be reckoned that, India‘s core interests such as, greater trade and commerce with the region as a whole, more technology and defence transaction-based interaction with Israel, uninterrupted supply of fuel from the region, and creation of ameliorative conditions in the West Asian milieu which does not lead to emotive involvement of the Indian Muslim community with sectarian groups in West Asia, may not be feasible so long the Palestine issue remains unresolved.
It is understood that both the Palestine Authority and Israeli government leaders, had conveyed to Sushma Swaraj that no war (including the Palestine-Israel dispute and other conflicts in the region), should be turned into a religious war. This stance is manifestly harmonious with India‘s traditional approach wherein, religious underpinning to state policy external or domestic, has been avoided. While direct Indian involvement or mediation between the Palestinians and the Israelis may not be advisable because of limitations of reach and resources of India and New Delhi‘s priorities for accommodation on various fronts within the SAARC region and in her periphery, there is sufficient scope for maneuver within international forum such as the UN and its organs and agencies, to help promote an accommodative approach between Ramallah and Tel-Aviv. The aim should be that India facilitates the creation of an environment which enables the Palestine Authority to function in the realm of local self-governance for welfare of the Palestinians, without jeopardizing Israel‘s security interests and reversing the slow but gradual Israeli Jewish settlers‘ encroachment in the jurisdictional area of the Palestine Authority. India could also work through its friendly relations with Iran to influence the Iran-supported HAMAS Palestinian group which has substantial influence and armed resources in Gaza strip (notwithstanding HAMAS‘s recent efforts to diversify its external support base by building up its relations with Saudi Arabia), to moderate its position vis-à-vis Israel and function with a modicum of political understanding with the PLO. A successful outcome of such efforts will lower tension within Palestine and in the region, and strengthen the moderate elements within the Palestine Authority and its authority in Israeli controlled Palestine territory , and particularly in the West Bank. A sine-qua-non for this approach is the appointment of a seasoned diplomat having the confidence of India‘s Prime Minister, as Indian envoy for West Asia to interact with the contending parties on the Palestine issue without fanfare but with perseverance, synchronously with India‘s overall policy objectives.
India‘s present trade with Palestine is nearly US $27 billion with an obviously favourable trade balance. Quite a few capacity building educational institutions and training centres have been set up in Palestine with India‘s assistance. While such assistance is a positive phenomenon in India-Palestine bilateral relations, desired outcome of such assistance may not be obtainable without Palestinian self-governance and political accommodation between them and the Israelis. If the institutions created and the capacities built up, cannot function effectively owing to violence in the environment, such assistance will not be meaningful in the long-run. There is therefore, an apparent need to bring the Palestine issue to a forefront position from the backburner, for gradually working out a solution. India by virtue of her past role and acceptability as well as the state of her present relations with Israel, may be deemed to have the capacity to help in this process. The present multi-centered West Asian milieu, with the ISIS phenomenon looming large in the region, India should logically attempt to renew its interest and albeit low-key involvement – to start with, on Palestine, to facilitate a measured movement towards a settlement to the satisfaction of the contestants without affecting her basic security and economic interests.
(The author is a retired IDAS officer and former Additional Controller General of Defence Accounts of Govt. of India, presently serving as an Adviser to an ex-Chief Minister of Nagaland & sitting Member of Lok Sabha.
The views expressed are the author‘s own.
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