Strategic Shift

The changing contours of India's relations with Palestine

- Seema Guha

INDIA’S rock-like support for the Palestinian cause since the early years of Independence has undergone a radical transformation during the last few decades. Though India recognised Israel as early as in November 1950, the nation’s heart was with the Palestinians’ fight to live with dignity in their own land. Delhi did not have full diplomatic relations with Israel till 1992, but once this was established, there was no looking back. The decision was taken by former Congress prime minister, Narasimha Rao, a pragmatic leader who had opened up the Indian economy in 1991, and believed that India had to change with the times. In 1988, India was again one of the first countries to recognise the Palestinian state.

But even in the early years when there was massive public support for Palestine, there was empathy for Israel. Like the rest of the world, Indians too remembered the plight of the Jews and the extermination of six million Jews by Hitler. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, the poignant story of a Jewish teenager, was familiar to most urban Indians. “Why must we fight for the right to live, over and over, each time the sun rises?’’ American author, Leon Uris, said in Exodus, a historical novel tracing the birth of Israel. Today, many would say that those lines could apply to the Palestinians who have endured over 70 years of hardship and to the civilians of Gaza deprived of food, water, electricity and medicine while being bombed out of their homes by Israeli jets.