Palestinian PM calls for Indian support

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• Prime Minister of Palestine Mohammad Shtayyeh has said that, 
  • India can play a stabilising role in West Asia by maintaining cooperation with all related parties.

Israel- Palestine conflict

• It is an age-old tussle over identity and land starting with Jerusalem.
  • It has been more than 100 years that Jews and Arabs are fighting over a piece of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
• Zionist Movement
  • In 1897, Jews started the movement to escape persecution and establish their own state in their ancestral homeland, Israel. 
  • The World Zionist Organisation was created to advocate for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
  • A large number of Jews started flowing into Palestine and they bought land and started settling down there.
• Sykes-Picot Agreement
  • By 1916, Palestine came under British control after the Sykes-Picot Agreement 
  • It was a secret agreement between Great Britain and France. 
  • This led to the division of the old Ottoman Turkish Empire.
• Balfour Declaration
  • The British foreign secretary James Balfour agreed to the establishment of a Jewish homeland.
• Nazis gained power in Germany, 
  • In 1930’s , the Jews influx to Palestine increased with thousands of them resettled from Europe to Palestine. 
  • Arabs saw this as a threat to their homeland and their conflict reached its peak as the British Government remained as a mute spectator.
  • Almost 6 million Jews lost their lives in the Holocaust which ignited a demand of separate Jewish state.
  • Jews claimed Palestine to be their natural home while the Arabs too did not leave the land and claimed it.
• Two State Solution
  • In 1947, the British Government went to the United Nations to solve the dispute and decide upon the future of Palestine 
  • The UN voted to split the land into two countries. Jewish people accepted the agreement and declared the independence of Israel.
• First Arab Israel war of 1948 
  • Arabs saw the creation of Israel as a part of a conspiracy to move them out of their land. 
  • Consequently, in 1948, the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria declared war on Israel.
  • Israel emerged victoriously and captured the western half of the city, and Jordan took the eastern part which Israel later captured and annexed.
    • Since then, Israel has expanded settlements in East Jerusalem.
• Creation of PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) in 1964
  • Large number of Palestinians moved out of Israel and settled in refugee camps near Israel’s border. 
  • It was the beginning of the Palestine refugee crisis which ultimately led to the creation of a terrorist organization PLO.
  • The Palestinians want to make East Jerusalem the capital of their yet to be formed state.
• Six-Day War 1967
  • Israel launched a preemptive strike against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan and captured
    • Golan Heights from Syria.
    • West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.
    • Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt. 
• Yom Kippur War 1973
  • Under the UN Charter, there can be no territorial gains from war, even by a state acting in self-defence.
  • In the light of Israel’s reluctance to return the captured territories, another Arab-Israeli war erupted in 1973 in which Israel suffered.
  • In 1979, as per Israel-Egypt peace treaty, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.
  • Egypt became the first Arab nation to officially recognize Israel as a state.
• Recent attacks
  • Israeli armed forces have recently attacked the Al-Aqsa Mosque ahead of a march by Zionist nationalists.
    • The Al Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest shrine for Islam after Mecca and Medina.
  • Also, earlier in 2021, four Palestinian families were evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah in favor of Jewish settlers.
    • The issue remains unresolved and potentially inflammable.
• The current outbreak of violence is the most severe involving the rocket-firing by the Palestinians and the air-strikes conducted by Israelis in retaliation.

India-Palestine Relations

• Historic Ties:
  • India had a historic tradition of supporting the rights of the Palestinian people.
  • It is also an integral part of the nation’s foreign policy.
• Supporting the Palestinian:
  • India support the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.
  • In 1974, India became the first Non-Arab State to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
• India’s position on Palestine is independent and consistent. It is shaped by independent views and interests, and not determined by any third country.

Why is India’s support significant?

• India’s growing Profile
  • India is serving as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2021-22 
  • India was re-elected to the Human Rights Council for the 2022-24.
• Palestine wants support in multilateral forums.
  • Also, in recent years, India has broken the tradition of supporting Palestine at the U.N.
  • In 2019, India voted in favour of Israel at the ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) 
    • to deny observer status to a Palestinian organisation named Shahed.
  • India abstained during the voting on a resolution calling for investigation into Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip at the Human Rights Council.

• Political Stability
  • India’s role in multilateral organisations required strenuous efforts in cooperation with all related parties 
    • to achieve security and stability in the MiddleEastand West Asia 
• Financial Support
  • Government of India contributed US$ 2 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)

India’s role in Middle East

• After Abraham Accord (Israel–UAE normalization agreement)
  • Will help India to move from bilateral relations towards an integrated regional policy.
  • Regional coalitions are bound to widen Delhi’s reach and deepen its impact.
• India bridging the Arab-Israeli 
  • Often the Arab nations and Israel are divided over Palestine.
  • India’s new foreign policy of simultaneous cooperation with Israel and the Arab world 
• New QUAD
  • A new minilateral with the US, UAE and Israel the “new Quad” is under discussion for the Middle East.

• Beneficial for all 
  • India’s scale , Israeli innovation and Emirati capital has a potential to produce immense benefits.
  • In addition to it the American strategic support would be a powerful dynamic unfolding in the region.

India’s Look West Policy

• Look West Policy is a strategy to deal with the West Asian nations.
• Adopted by the Indian government in 2005 and has been intensified in the recent past.
• Look West Policy focus
  • The Arab Gulf countries
  • Israel
  • Iran
• India’s Diplomacy 
  • India, through what can be viewed as imaginative diplomacy, has attained a unique position in the world.
  • It has good and growing relations with all major nearby regional powers – Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Egypt and Israel.
• India’s Success
  • The success of this policy was seen when the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has not taken a strong stance against India 
    • on the issue related to the abrogation of article 370 and 35A and 
    • UAE presented the Order of Zayed to PM Modi immediately after to boost the ties between the two nations.

Constraints with Look West Policy

• Peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine
  • Are not seeing any progress and are challenged by the US’ increasing inclination towards Israel.

• India’s engagement with Iran
  • Over the Chabahar port is unlikely to eliminate the Pakistan or China option.
  • One reason is the more modest scale of India’s efforts in Central Asia and West Asia, especially compared to China’s BRI.

• US Iran tensions
  • US’ unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran has derailed India’s strategy 
  • Intensification of US-Iran tensions and India’s growing inclinations with the US.

Conclusion

• Strategic autonomy
  • India must take all possible steps to maintain its current position in the Middle East to have the flexibility and strategic autonomy 
  • while also prioritizing the national interests of the country.
• Not Picking Sides
  • India’s decisions are based on a mature understanding and evaluation of the Israel- Palestine issues 
  • India refused to pick a side and called for de-escalation and dialogue.
• Diplomatic Depth
  • Presently, West Asia has become multipolar with powers diffused among various regional and extra-regional actors.
  • Within this mix, India has pursued an approach that balances against different parties and their rivalries.

• Legitimacy resolutions
  • India may render support that is parallel and complementary with the political support of the Palestinian cause 
  • In a manner that guarantees the implementation of international legitimacy resolutions.

Source: TH