\n<\/p>\n
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to begin his two-day visit to Israel on February 25, nine years after his first trip to the country.<\/p>\n
His 2017 trip was the first ever by an Indian prime minister to Israel.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n His upcoming visit also comes just days after India, together with more than 100 other nations, condemned Israel\u2019s de facto expansion in the occupied West Bank after New Delhi initially appeared to hesitate about adding its name to the criticism.<\/p>\n From defence and security to trade and technology, India and Israel have forged tight ties in recent years, even as New Delhi has turned cool towards the plight of Palestinians, despite decades of support for their struggle for a sovereign nation.<\/p>\n While multiple Western leaders have visited Netanyahu in Israel since the October 7, 2023 attack, very few Global South leaders have, making Modi\u2019s visit more significant, say analysts.<\/p>\n Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations in Jerusalem on February 15, Netanyahu said the two prime ministers were going to discuss \u201call sorts of cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTremendous alliance between Israel and India, and we are going to discuss all sorts of cooperation. Now, you know, India is not a small country. It has 1.4 billion people. India is enormously powerful, enormously popular,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But India\u2019s ties with Israel were not always this cosy. Here is a timeline of how their relations have evolved \u2014 from hostility and suspicion, to secret weapons trade and now open embrace \u2014 and what that means for India\u2019s relations with Palestine.<\/p>\n Under British colonialism, India strongly identified with the Palestinian struggle for independence.<\/p>\n Between 1920 and 1948, Palestine was under British administration, and the United Kingdom, through the Balfour Declaration of 1917, had promised Jews, who had been displaced from Europe due to Adolf Hitler\u2019s oppression, a homeland in the British Mandate in Palestine.<\/p>\n This was opposed by many nations, including India, which were also fighting British colonialism at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cPalestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English, or France to the French,\u201d Mahatma Gandhi, India\u2019s most prominent freedom fighter, revered as the Father of the Nation, wrote in an article in his weekly newspaper Harijan, on November 26, 1938.<\/p>\n While he also sympathised with the Jews in his article and said \u201cthe German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in history\u201d, Gandhi stressed that it would be \u201cwrong and inhumane to impose the Jews on the Arabs\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n In 1947, India became an independent nation, and that same year, it voted against the United Nations Partition Plan of Palestine into the Jewish state of Israel and the state of Palestine, comprising Palestinian Arabs. According to the book, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Volume 5, the first Indian prime minister\u2019s sister, Vijaylaxmi Pandit, who was India\u2019s envoy to the UN, received death threats to pressure New Delhi to vote in favour of the division. But the Nehru government did not buckle.<\/p>\n Instead, India, erstwhile Yugoslavia and Iran advocated for a single federated state with \u2014 per Nehru \u2014 \u201cthe largest possible autonomy to respected regions where the Jews and Arabs are in majority\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have maintained that Palestine should be independent and free from the control of any single power; that no solution can be lasting unless it is based on the consent of both Arabs and Jews; and no lasting solution is possible which is imposed and maintained by force,\u201d Nehru said in 1948.<\/p>\n In 1949, India also voted against Israel\u2019s UN membership.<\/p>\n But Israel was keen for recognition and sent many envoys to meet Indian officials.<\/p>\n Renowned scientist Albert Einstein was among those nudged by Israel to help convince India to recognise the Jewish nation.<\/p>\n In a letter to Nehru in June 1947, Einstein told him to end \u201cthe rivalries of power politics and the egotism of petty nationalist appetites\u201d and support \u201cthe glorious renaissance which has begun in Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n At the time, Nehru was not convinced, but eventually, on September 17, 1950, India recognised Israel. \u201cWe would have [recognised] long ago, because Israel is a fact. We refrained because of our desire not to offend the sentiments of our friends in the Arab countries,\u201d Nehru said, post recognition.<\/p>\n However, India steered clear of establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. For four decades to follow, India even forbade the use of its passport for travel to Israel.<\/p>\n India\u2019s political and diplomatic sympathies continued to lie firmly behind the Palestinian cause. In May 1960, Nehru visited UN troops stationed in Gaza.<\/p>\n But when war broke out between India and China in 1962, then Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion wrote to Nehru, offering his sympathies and weapons.<\/p>\n India accepted Israeli weapons and munitions, but requested that the ships supplying them not bear Israeli flags, so as not to antagonise New Delhi\u2019s Arab allies. These details have been revealed in documents held in archives in Jerusalem, and India has not disputed them. This marked the beginning of a decades-long covert relationship between India and Israel.<\/p>\n Israel again supplied India with munitions during its 1965 war against Pakistan.<\/p>\n As tensions between India and Pakistan spiked in 1971, DN Chatterjee, India\u2019s ambassador to France, wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs, advocating for New Delhi to seek Israeli assistance.<\/p>\n The then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, accepted the proposal, scholar Srinath Raghavan wrote in his book, 1971. Through India\u2019s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country began the process of procuring Israeli arms via Liechtenstein.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir wrote to Indira, seeking diplomatic recognition for Israel in return, but India demurred.<\/p>\n Instead, despite the military help it had sought and received from Israel, India grew even closer to the Palestinian movement diplomatically through the 1970s. In 1974, it became the first non-Arab country to recognise the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. The following year, the PLO opened an office in India. Thousands of Palestinian students came to India for their higher studies.<\/p>\n By the 1980s, India\u2019s relations with Palestine and Israel had fallen into a familiar pattern. New Delhi overtly, loudly declared its support for the Palestinian cause, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat made frequent visits to the country. But covertly, Israel and India had established security ties.<\/p>\n In 1983, when Arafat visited India for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, he described Indira, the prime minister, as his \u201csister\u201d, underscoring the personal and nation-to-nation affinity that existed at the time between India and Palestine.<\/p>\n But the early 1980s also saw Israel propose to India a joint operation to attack a Pakistani nuclear facility, which New Delhi turned down.<\/p>\n In 1988, India became among the world\u2019s first non-Arab nations to recognise Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n With the Cold War over and a unipolar world emerging, India adjusted several of its diplomatic positions. Domestically, India opened up its economy starting in 1991. Externally, it reached out to the United States and, in January 1992, turned its long-hidden relationship with Israel into the establishment of formal diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n In a September 2022 report for the Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation, retired Indian diplomat Navdeep Suri wrote that New Delhi took decades to establish diplomatic ties with Israel because of India\u2019s \u201csupport for anti-colonial movements and its close ties with Arab countries\u201d.<\/p>\n In fact, India\u2019s prime minister in 1992, PV Narasimha Rao, announced the decision to set up diplomatic ties with Israel just weeks after Arafat had visited New Delhi and said he would respect India\u2019s decision on the matter.<\/p>\n India and Israel set up their embassies in Tel Aviv and New Delhi, respectively.<\/p>\n In 1999, Israel helped India during the Kargil war when its troops were trying to force out Pakistan\u2019s military and Kashmiri rebels who had occupied strategic positions on the Indian side of the de facto border between them, known as the Line of Control or LoC. Israel aided India militarily by supplying laser-guided bomb kits and missiles.<\/p>\n In the early 2000s, India became one of Israel\u2019s largest buyers of defence equipment.<\/p>\n But in 2014, when Modi came to power, India\u2019s ties with Israel witnessed a sharp upturn; the hesitancy of the past was shed once and for all.<\/p>\n Under the Modi government in 2015, India\u2019s president at the time, Pranab Mukherjee, became the first Indian president to visit Israel, seeking to strengthen bilateral economic and defence ties.<\/p>\n In July 2017, Modi visited Israel, becoming the first Indian prime minister to visit the country. During that visit, according to Indian media reports, Modi and Netanyahu said they \u201cvisualised that the two countries will become close partners in development, technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, defence and security\u201d. A year later, in January 2018, Netanyahu also visited New Delhi.<\/p>\n In 2021, under Modi, the Indian Air Force participated in a multilateral air force exercise called Blue Flag-2021 in Israel. Israeli defence companies like Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems have also established partnerships with Indian firms, such as Adani Group and Tata Advanced Systems.<\/p>\n Trade relations between the two nations have also strengthened under the Modi government. India is currently Israel\u2019s second-largest trading partner in Asia, after China. According to India\u2019s Ministry of External Affairs, trade jumped from $200m in 1992 to $6.5bn in 2024.<\/p>\n India\u2019s main exports to Israel include pearls, precious stones, automotive diesel, chemicals, machinery, and electrical equipment, among others, while imports include petroleum, chemical machinery and transport equipment, etc. The two countries also signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) last September.<\/p>\n At a time when many Western countries, including allies of Israel, have sanctioned far-right members of Netanyahu\u2019s cabinet, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, these ministers have been welcomed in India.<\/p>\n Israeli companies have also sought to hire more employees from India in recent years. After Israel suspended work permits for thousands of Palestinians following the October 2023 attack by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, Israel hired thousands of Indians to work in their place.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, India has been a tourist destination for Israelis, with many of them holidaying in the country after serving their mandatory time in the Israeli army.<\/p>\n Kfir Tshuva, a lecturer in economics at the Ramat Gan Academic College in Israel, said, under Modi, India and Israel\u2019s relationship has become more visible and politically open.<\/p>\n However, he noted that India\u2019s approach in the Middle East was also one of strategic balancing \u2014 in which New Delhi maintains separate and independent relationships with multiple actors that may have conflicting interests, rather than framing its policy as a zero-sum choice.<\/p>\n \u201cThis allows India to deepen cooperation with Israel in areas such as defence, technology and economic integration, while also sustaining diplomatic engagement with the Palestinian leadership and strong ties with Arab states,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cModi\u2019s visit to Israel [next week] should therefore be understood within this broader strategic calculus. It reflects New Delhi\u2019s effort to integrate stronger bilateral cooperation with Israel into its wider regional strategy without undermining its commitment to peace, its support for a two-state solution, or its substantive relationships with Arab partners,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Kadira Pethiyagoda, author and geopolitical strategist, told Al Jazeera that there are currently multiple countervailing forces at play.<\/p>\n \u201cOn one hand, India\u2019s short-term interests are advanced by defence trade and investment, and remittances from Israel; on the other, India\u2019s long-term goal of becoming a \u2018great power\u2019 with a strategic footprint in the Middle East, invariably involves reducing US regional hegemony,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis requires that Israel is balanced by other regional powers, like Iran, which have closer ties to India than the US. India would not want to contribute to Israel achieving complete dominance in the Middle East,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n Under Modi, India has officially maintained its support for a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel \u2014 backing the two-state solution \u2014 even as he has embraced more publicly warm ties with Netanyahu.<\/p>\n But India has been cautious in criticising Israel\u2019s actions on Gaza, even before the genocidal war that began in 2023.<\/p>\n In 2016, India abstained from a UN vote which sought to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its alleged war crimes during its conflict with Gaza in 2014. When Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza, India condemned the humanitarian crisis in the enclave but repeatedly abstained from UN resolutions which called for a ceasefire. In 2024, India also abstained from a UN Human Rights Council resolution which called for an arms embargo on Israel.<\/p>\n India has, however, been critical of Israel\u2019s actions in the occupied West Bank. Last week, India joined more than 100 nations in condemning Israel\u2019s recent plans to occupy more territory in the region.<\/p>\n A joint statement issued by the nations rejected \u201call measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch measures violate international law, undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region, run counter to the Comprehensive Plan, and jeopardize the prospect of reaching a peace agreement ending the conflict,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n But India joined that statement only a day after the first batch of 80 countries and organisations signed it, drawing criticism from the domestic opposition.<\/p>\n Modi\u2019s visit to Israel, too, has drawn condemnation from the opposition Congress party and others, who have accused him of reversing decades of Indian support for the Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n In a post on X after India condemned Israel\u2019s actions in the occupied West Bank, Congress party\u2019s general secretary in charge of communication and media, Jairam Ramesh, said: \u201cThis is sheer hypocrisy and cynicism since the PM will be going to Israel early next week. If he is really serious \u2013 which of course he is not \u2013 he should call out his good friend Mr Netanyahu, and publicly express India\u2019s grave concern at what Israel is executing in the occupied West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n Analysts have told Al Jazeera that Modi will likely be \u201chighly diplomatic\u201d with respect to discussing the Palestine issue during his Israel trip.<\/p>\n According to Pethiyagoda, India has had a fairly unique position among large powers in maintaining cordial ties with both sides in most of the world\u2019s major conflicts.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the timing of the [Israel] visit, when the US is likely to strike Iran, is not ideal in terms of maintaining this image,\u201d he said, referring to soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran. The Trump administration has amassed warships and jets close to Iran, in preparation for a potential attack, even as the US and Iran also engage in diplomatic talks.<\/p>\n He added that during his visit, Modi will likely make reference to the Gaza conflict but \u201cin a neutral, highly diplomatic way\u201d.<\/p>\n Tshuva said beyond India\u2019s engagement with the Palestinian leadership, its ties with Arab states remain strategically significant.<\/p>\n \u201cGulf countries are vital to India\u2019s energy security, trade flows, investment partnerships and the welfare of millions of Indian nationals working in the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese economic and geopolitical considerations form an essential part of New Delhi\u2019s Middle East policy and shape its careful approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to begin his two-day visit to Israel on February 25, nine years after his first trip to the country. His 2017 trip was the first ever by an Indian prime minister to Israel. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list His upcoming visit also comes just days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
1930s and 40s: India opposes the creation of Israel<\/h2>\n
1950s: India recognises Israel, but refuses to set up diplomatic ties<\/h2>\n
1960s: Pro-Palestinian, with an opening for Israel<\/h2>\n
1970s: Secret Israeli weapons and a historic Palestinian recognition<\/h2>\n
1980s: \u2018My sister\u2019 and a planned attack on a nuclear facility<\/h2>\n
1990s: India and Israel establish diplomatic ties<\/h2>\n
2014 onwards: An open embrace<\/h2>\n
What does this mean for India\u2019s relations with Palestine?<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"