Israel- India relations - Revision history

Jyoti: /* 2023 */

2026-03-28T18:33:56Z

‎2023

Jyoti: /* Tagore on Israel, Jews – and how he differed from Gandhi, Nehru */

2024-03-24T19:40:52Z

‎Tagore on Israel, Jews – and how he differed from Gandhi, Nehru

Jyoti: /* Gandhi’s advice of non-violence */

2023-11-30T23:15:04Z

‎Gandhi’s advice of non-violence

Jyoti: /* Gandhi’s advice of non-violence */

2023-11-30T23:05:45Z

‎Gandhi’s advice of non-violence

Jyoti: /* 1947-2023 Oct */

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‎1947-2023 Oct

Jyoti: /* 1947-2023 Oct */

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‎1947-2023 Oct

Jyoti: /* A brief chronology */

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‎A brief chronology

Jyoti: /* Economy */

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‎Economy

Jyoti: /* YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS */

2023-11-19T18:00:10Z

‎YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

Jyoti: /* YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS */

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‎YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

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 [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-hindu-nationalists-have-a-history-of-deep-admiration-for-israel/articleshow/104472693.cms  Abhishek Dey, Oct 20, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
-Palestinian armed group Hamas crossed into Israel on October 7 and launched aerial and ground attacks, which eventually triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that has claimed more than 4,000 lives on both sides so far.Hours after videos of the attack surfaced on the internet, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed solidarity with Israel. He posted on X: “Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.”By then, hashtags with phrases such as 'India is with Israel' were already trending on social media platforms.On October 11, Modi said that India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, even as he expressed support for Israel.But, on October 12, spokesperson for the Union ministry of external affairs Arindam Bagchi said: “Our position on Palestine has been long-standing and consistent. India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards a sovereign independent and viable state of Palestine, living within secure and recognised borders, side by side and at peace with Israel. That position remains the same.”
+Palestinian armed group Hamas crossed into Israel on October 7 and launched aerial and ground attacks, which eventually triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that has claimed more than 4,000 lives on both sides so far.Hours after videos of the attack surfaced on the internet, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed solidarity with Israel. He posted on X: “Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.”
 However, that does not seem to have dampened the gush of support for Israel.Social-media platforms are full of photos and videos showing men and women offering prayers in support of Israel in the ghats of Varanasi, people getting Israel tattoos on their bodies and cricket fans waving placards expressing support for Israel in the stadium while watching the recently held India vs Pakistan World Cup match. Several Hindu organisations have so far offered to participate in the ongoing war, fighting for Israel.When did it start and how?The Hindu nationalists’ deep admiration for Israel predates 2014, when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power with Narendra Modi as prime minister.If Modi became the first Indian PM to ever visit Israel in 2017, BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first Indian PM to host an Israeli Prime Minister in 2003. Ariel Sharon was the first Israeli prime minister to visit India.
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 “R S S has a very similar conception of India as a Promised Land [for] the Hindus as the Zionist do for Jews,” Sanjay Srivastava, British Academy Global Professor at Department of Anthropology and Sociology in SOAS University of London, tells TOI+.“The idea of Arabs as second-class citizens within Israel is also one that matches R S S ideas towards religious minorities. The idea of 'emasculation' and 'remasculinisation' is shared by both the R S S and Zionists. The Judeo-Christian antipathy towards Islam is one shared by the R S S,” he says. “The R S S also has a similar historical project to the Zionists: that there has been no mutual dependence or cultural overlap between Hindus (Jews) and Muslims (Arabs). Though Hindus have never suffered the kind of persecution faced by Jews, Israel provides a ready-made model of victimhood for the R S S.”
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 He keenly watched the progress of the new Jewish establishments in Palestine in the 1930s and, to understand its details, he sent two representatives, Kali Mohan Ghose (1884-1940) and Amiya Chakravarthy, to Palestine. Chakravarthy submitted a detailed report, which was published in Prabashi, praising the constructive work undertaken by the Jews and asserted that they had a legal claim in Palestine.
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← Older revision		Revision as of 23:15, 30 November 2023
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	Major warsIn 1967, Israel made a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and Syria, launching the Six-Day War. Israel has occupied the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan, and Syria's Golan Heights ever since.In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Israel pushed both armies back within three weeks.Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and thousands of Palestinian fighters under Yasser Arafat were evacuated by sea after a 10-week siege. In 2006, war erupted in Lebanon again when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers and Israel retaliated.In 2005 Israel quit Gaza, which it had captured from Egypt in 1967. But Gaza saw major flare-ups in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021 that involved Israeli air raids and Palestinian rocket fire, and sometimes also cross border incursions by either side.As well as wars, there have been two Palestinian intifadas or uprisings between 1987-1993 and again in 2000-05. The second saw waves of Hamas suicide bombings against Israelis.Peace effortsIn 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, ending 30 years of hostility. In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat shook hands on the Oslo Accords on limited Palestinian autonomy.In 2002, an Arab plan offered Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it took in the 1967 war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.Peace efforts have been stalled since 2014, when talks failed between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington.Palestinians later boycotted dealings with the administration of US President Donald Trump since it reversed decades of US policy by refusing to endorse the two-state solution — the peace formula that envisages a Palestinian state established in territory that Israel captured in 1967.		Major warsIn 1967, Israel made a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and Syria, launching the Six-Day War. Israel has occupied the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan, and Syria's Golan Heights ever since.In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Israel pushed both armies back within three weeks.Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and thousands of Palestinian fighters under Yasser Arafat were evacuated by sea after a 10-week siege. In 2006, war erupted in Lebanon again when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers and Israel retaliated.In 2005 Israel quit Gaza, which it had captured from Egypt in 1967. But Gaza saw major flare-ups in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021 that involved Israeli air raids and Palestinian rocket fire, and sometimes also cross border incursions by either side.As well as wars, there have been two Palestinian intifadas or uprisings between 1987-1993 and again in 2000-05. The second saw waves of Hamas suicide bombings against Israelis.Peace effortsIn 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, ending 30 years of hostility. In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat shook hands on the Oslo Accords on limited Palestinian autonomy.In 2002, an Arab plan offered Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it took in the 1967 war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.Peace efforts have been stalled since 2014, when talks failed between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington.Palestinians later boycotted dealings with the administration of US President Donald Trump since it reversed decades of US policy by refusing to endorse the two-state solution — the peace formula that envisages a Palestinian state established in territory that Israel captured in 1967.
		+
		+	==Views of Gandhi and Ambedkar==
		+	[https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/on-israel-palestine-hear-ambedkar-and-gandhi-8983293/ Suraj Yengde, Oct 17, 2023: ''The Indian Express'']
		+
		+
		+	The war in Palestine is as old as the biblical record. The Abrahamic faith is riven with faithful differences between the creator and the condemned. The Jewish people followed the direction of their prophet, Moses, to escape war. Their life has been that of displacement and recovery. In an amazing demonstration of calibre, the Jewish people have bounced back at an impressive speed.
		+
		+	The Jewish nature of work and industry has derived from their long biographies of oppression and violence. They have not forgotten and are neither made to forget. Their existence, it seems, is defined by being pushed into chambers of violence.
		+
		+	However, the right-wing crude elements running the government in Israel currently have no sense of solidarity and empathy for their own ancestry. Prime Minister Netanyahu has time and again proven that he is not the right man to hold peace accords together.
		+
		+	The most important sites for the ancient religions are in Jerusalem, where Judaism, Christianity and Islam stake their claim. The fight for their ownership has changed the region’s portfolio. The Jewish, Christian and Muslim conflict has overtaken the historical tribal relations that were essential for the region’s trade and history.
		+
		+	Mohandas K Gandhi had taken a principled position against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land. He saw this as a recipe for long-term disaster. He pointed towards the culprit in charge, the British administration. However, there were sympathies with the condition of the Jews. He called them “untouchables of Christianity”, equating them with the “untouchables of Hindu faith”. He saw emigration into Palestine furrowing the divides between Arabs and Jews.
		+
		+	The hatred against the Jews is catastrophic. They are hated by their junior theological partners, the Christians, and their youngest cousins, Muslims.
		+
		+	This was so violent that mosques in my region, Maharashtra’s Nanded, were rife with toxic Yahuddi hatred. In Nanded, there would be public exhibitions with graphic photographs of mutilated bodies of children in Palestine. It was surprising that such an exhibition was being held in an otherwise disconnected city, far from the mainstream of even Indian politics, let alone global. Led by devout Muslim youth, such an event would educate us about a faraway country called Palestine. They had a visceral hatred for Yahuddis, calling them the most evil people. I did not know what this meant then or the consequences of it until I was exposed to the international politics of World War II.
		+
		+	The unfortunate character of this was the fanatic propaganda driven by Islamist ideology that would only see a faraway land in Palestine as suffering but not lend an iota of sympathy for their neighbours fallen by caste atrocities.
		+
		+	Incidentally, the Hindu supremacist and Muslim radicals did not support the Jewish people but for very different reasons and points of reference. The Hindus found inspiration in Hitler’s agenda, while the Muslims hated them for the occupation of Palestine.
		+
		+	Dr Ambedkar had expressed his appreciation for Moses, drawing parallels to the Jews and Dalits. He admired how Moses worked hard to unite the Jews, providing them leadership in times of extermination under Pharaohs. Moses, who argued for “undertaking the thankless but noble task of leading Jews out of their captivity”, was an inspiration to Ambedkar. As Israelites followed their leader in desperation but with hope, Ambedkar also saw himself as the ‘Moses’ of his people. He was not wrong. He remains the prophet of his people who resurrect his memories at every catastrophe or celebration, seeking approval in his words.
		+
		+	We need to take Gandhi and Ambedkar’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The idea of two states was imposed on the modern apparatus of Palestine. It did not mean that Jews had no relation or genealogy to that land.
		+
		+	In the war between the strong and the weak, our solidarity is with the weak. We can relate to the pains of resourceless people. Even though the fragmented Palestinian people, divided between PLO and Hamas, may not have the wherewithal to fight against the might of the state backed by the world’s most militarised country, they are the people with strong convictions for their future. The mothers birth their offspring into their own land, proudly asserting their right to belong.
		+
		+	The colonisation of land is a real matter. Since 1948, the size of Palestinian land has been shrinking, overtaken by the settler. The agenda seems to either expel the Palestinians, which has been happening since 1948, eliminate them or make them second-class citizens. These options are not viable and acceptable to any self-respecting human being whose sovereignty is tied to their motherland.
		+
		+	This does not cede the right of Jews to have their homeland.
		+
		+	The Dalit community has a moral and political responsibility as leaders to extend solidarity to the oppressed people of the Arab land, not just Palestinians but also those in Yemen’s war-torn hinterlands, with the native tribes of Arab countries who remain largely second-class citizens ruled by invading tribes that have established their rule, as well as the Jews. We do not support the terrorism imposed by minuscule ideologues who make the majority suffer.
		+
		+	Our politics has to align with sincere efforts to end warfare and advocate for absolute peace in international geopolitics for the Israelis, Arabs, and tribes of the dry land.
		+
		+	Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters, curates Dalitality and is currently at Oxford University
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	==Tagore on Israel, Jews – and how he differed from Gandhi, Nehru==		==Tagore on Israel, Jews – and how he differed from Gandhi, Nehru==

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:05, 30 November 2023
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	Major warsIn 1967, Israel made a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and Syria, launching the Six-Day War. Israel has occupied the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan, and Syria's Golan Heights ever since.In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Israel pushed both armies back within three weeks.Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and thousands of Palestinian fighters under Yasser Arafat were evacuated by sea after a 10-week siege. In 2006, war erupted in Lebanon again when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers and Israel retaliated.In 2005 Israel quit Gaza, which it had captured from Egypt in 1967. But Gaza saw major flare-ups in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021 that involved Israeli air raids and Palestinian rocket fire, and sometimes also cross border incursions by either side.As well as wars, there have been two Palestinian intifadas or uprisings between 1987-1993 and again in 2000-05. The second saw waves of Hamas suicide bombings against Israelis.Peace effortsIn 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, ending 30 years of hostility. In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat shook hands on the Oslo Accords on limited Palestinian autonomy.In 2002, an Arab plan offered Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it took in the 1967 war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.Peace efforts have been stalled since 2014, when talks failed between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington.Palestinians later boycotted dealings with the administration of US President Donald Trump since it reversed decades of US policy by refusing to endorse the two-state solution — the peace formula that envisages a Palestinian state established in territory that Israel captured in 1967.		Major warsIn 1967, Israel made a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and Syria, launching the Six-Day War. Israel has occupied the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan, and Syria's Golan Heights ever since.In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Israel pushed both armies back within three weeks.Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and thousands of Palestinian fighters under Yasser Arafat were evacuated by sea after a 10-week siege. In 2006, war erupted in Lebanon again when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers and Israel retaliated.In 2005 Israel quit Gaza, which it had captured from Egypt in 1967. But Gaza saw major flare-ups in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021 that involved Israeli air raids and Palestinian rocket fire, and sometimes also cross border incursions by either side.As well as wars, there have been two Palestinian intifadas or uprisings between 1987-1993 and again in 2000-05. The second saw waves of Hamas suicide bombings against Israelis.Peace effortsIn 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, ending 30 years of hostility. In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat shook hands on the Oslo Accords on limited Palestinian autonomy.In 2002, an Arab plan offered Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it took in the 1967 war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.Peace efforts have been stalled since 2014, when talks failed between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington.Palestinians later boycotted dealings with the administration of US President Donald Trump since it reversed decades of US policy by refusing to endorse the two-state solution — the peace formula that envisages a Palestinian state established in territory that Israel captured in 1967.
		+
		+	==Tagore on Israel, Jews – and how he differed from Gandhi, Nehru==
		+	[https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rabindranath-tagore-israel-jewish-question-palestine-8985662/ Oct 15, 2023: ''The Indian Express'']
		+
		+
		+	Tagore was asked for his opinion, while he was in the US, about Zionism and the Jewish-Palestinian problem by The Jewish Standard in 1924. He replied, taking note of all the complexities. When he was returning from Japan in 1924, he supported the spiritual side of Zionism. Later, he realised that the complications were aggravated by the intervention of British imperialism. In his perception, the British attempt was to divide the Jews and the Palestinians in Palestine in the same way as what they were doing in India among the Hindus and the Muslims. He cautioned the Jews that the Palestine problem could only be solved by their joint effort — not by the intervention of a third party — through a direct understanding between the Arabs and the Jews. If the Zionist leadership insisted on separating Jewish political and economic interests in Palestine from those of the Arabs, an ugly eruption would occur in the Holy Land.
		+
		+	To a question as to whether Tagore supported the demand for a Jewish homeland, his reply was similar to that of Albert Einstein (1877-1955), who said he supported such a homeland “as an effort to preserve and enrich Jewish culture and tradition”. Tagore added that it “implies appropriate physical surroundings as well as favourable political and economic conditions”. Most importantly, he insisted that Jews include “Arabs in their political and economic programme” (The Jewish Standard, November 28, 1930). He proposed a joint Palestine Commonwealth government as that would help in building a new Palestine. He reminded us that both the civilisations had rich ancient roots. Given the rigid stance of both sides, any attempt to subordinate or change would be infructuous. The best would be to allow both to retain their respective identities, traditions and belief structures in a commonwealth of partnership of both. He stressed on firmer accommodative unity within diversity as the only model in heterogeneous societies divided by race, religion, ethnicity and culture.
		+
		+	Tagore’s formulae anticipated the consociational theory of democracy propounded after World War II. His observations negated J S Mill’s belief that homogeneity was crucial to the success of democracy. He was one of the earliest from India to reflect on the aforesaid problem. The Congress party deliberated on it only in 1936. When Tagore came to know about the atrocities on the Jews in Germany, which included Einstein, he issued a letter dated June 17, 1934, criticising the crushing of “free individual on the steps of whose sublime heresies humanity has ever been rising upwards” (Israel’s Messenger, August 3, 1934). He has always condemned racism and sectarianism.
		+
		+	On November 9, 1938, the Palestine Royal Commission published its report recommending the establishment of separate nations of Jews and Arabs and the division of Palestine into three areas keeping in view economic considerations. Jerusalem would be the third area under the direct control of the British. This announcement led to the expression of serious discontent and protest in both communities. Taking advantage of the turmoil, the British continued with its old mandatory authority provided by the League of Nations. This intensified the resentment. Nationalist newspapers in India condemned it. Gandhi, despite knowing about Nazi Germany’s annihilation of the Jews, endorsed Nehru’s and Congress’ view that did not support the Jewish demand for a separate homeland.
		+
		+	Tagore thought that the Congress resolution on Palestine was one-sided as it concentrated only on Arabs and not on Jews.
		+
		+	He reminded that the two communities “throughout history lived on good terms and cooperated in all fields of human activities” (The Madras Mail, October 5, 1936). He was convinced that with the arrival of the Jews, many welfare measures would be initiated. Their work culture, brilliance and acquisition of European education along with Arab bravery would lead to a new era in Palestine, whose effect would be felt throughout the East. He emphasised that the Arabs and Jews ought to learn to live together and reminded them that when a new set of people of a new race settled down in a new country, protection of the local population was also of prime importance.
		+
		+	He keenly watched the progress of the new Jewish establishments in Palestine in the 1930s and, to understand its details, he sent two representatives, Kali Mohan Ghose (1884-1940) and Amiya Chakravarthy, to Palestine. Chakravarthy submitted a detailed report, which was published in Prabashi, praising the constructive work undertaken by the Jews and asserted that they had a legal claim in Palestine.

	[[Category:Defence\|IISRAEL- INDIA RELATIONSISRAEL- INDIA RELATIONSISRAEL- INDIA RELATIONS		[[Category:Defence\|IISRAEL- INDIA RELATIONSISRAEL- INDIA RELATIONSISRAEL- INDIA RELATIONS

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:14, 30 November 2023
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	The spate of horrifying surprise attacks over the weekend puts India in a diplomatic tight spot. This is because the current hostility tests the Abraham Accords and the efforts towards rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which held the promise of reshaping age-old fault lines in the Middle East. India was hoping to reap the dividends of the newfound peace in the region.		The spate of horrifying surprise attacks over the weekend puts India in a diplomatic tight spot. This is because the current hostility tests the Abraham Accords and the efforts towards rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which held the promise of reshaping age-old fault lines in the Middle East. India was hoping to reap the dividends of the newfound peace in the region.
		+
		+	==Why Gandhi opposed a Jewish nation-state in Palestine ==
		+	[https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/gandhi-opposed-jewish-nation-state-palestine-8975964/ Oct 10, 2023: ''The Indian Express'']
		+
		+
		+	Gandhi’s article — ‘The Jews’ — has been the subject of intense debate over the years. It has been cited as evidence of his naivete by some, while others have seen it as further proof of his deep commitment to non-violence, regardless of consequences.
		+
		+	Amidst the latest bloody chapter in the history of Israel and Palestine, we look back at what Gandhi had to say on this, in Gandhi’s own words, “very difficult question”.
		+
		+	''' Gandhi was deeply sympathetic to the Jewish people. '''
		+
		+	The Mahatma always made it clear that he had deep sympathies for the Jewish people who had historically been unjustly persecuted for their religion.
		+
		+	“My sympathies are all with the Jews … They have been the untouchables of Christianity. The parallel between their treatment by Christians and the treatment of untouchables by Hindus is very close. Religious sanction has been invoked in both cases for the justification of the inhuman treatment meted out to them,” Gandhi wrote in ‘The Jews’.
		+
		+	He also wrote that “the German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in history”, and expressed his concern with Britain’s policy of placating Adolf Hitler at the time (before World War II broke out). The Mahatma declared that for the cause of humanity and to prevent the persecution of the Jewish people, even a war with Germany would be “completely justified”.
		+
		+	“If there ever could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race, would be completely justified,” Gandhi wrote.
		+
		+	''' Yet, he did not support a Zionist state in Palestine. '''
		+
		+	“It is wrong and inhumane to impose the Jews on the Arabs … it 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,” Gandhi wrote.
		+
		+	His opposition to the creation of a Zionist state in Palestine was based on two principal beliefs. First, that Palestine was already home to Arab Palestinians, and the settlement of Jews, which Britain actively enabled, was fundamentally violent.
		+
		+	“A religious act [the act of Jews returning to Palestine] cannot be performed with the aid of the bayonet or the bomb,” he wrote. Gandhi felt that the Jews can settle in Palestine only “with the goodwill of Arabs”, and for that they had to “forgo the British bayonet”.
		+
		+	Second, Gandhi felt (and he was not unique in sharing this position at the time) that the idea of a Jewish homeland was fundamentally antithetical towards their fight for greater rights elsewhere in the world.
		+
		+	“If the Jews have no home but Palestine, will they relish the idea of being forced to leave the other parts of the world in which they are settled?” Gandhi wrote, adding that the Jewish claim for a national home afforded “a colourable justification for the German expulsion of the Jews”.
		+
		+	''' Gandhi’s position on Israel influenced India’s foreign policy. '''
		+
		+	The Mahatma’s position was in no way was unique. Leaders across the Arab world and anti-imperialists beyond were appalled by Britain’s administration of Palestine, and the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised Jews a homeland in the British Mandate. As the late British author Arthur Koestler, a Jew himself, wrote about the Declaration: “One nation solemnly promised to a second nation the country of a third.”
		+
		+	Gandhi’s opinions, and his own anti-imperialism had a profound impact on Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, and was responsible for shaping the nascent country’s foreign policy for decades. “In many ways, Nehru inherited this perspective from Mahatma Gandhi,” former Indian diplomat Chinmaya Gharekhan told The Indian Express.
		+
		+	India voted against UN Resolution 181 which partitioned Palestine between Jews and Arabs. While it did recognise the state of Israel in 1950, official diplomatic relations were not established till 1992, under Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.

	===Gandhi’s advice of non-violence===		===Gandhi’s advice of non-violence===

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:12, 30 November 2023
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	The spate of horrifying surprise attacks over the weekend puts India in a diplomatic tight spot. This is because the current hostility tests the Abraham Accords and the efforts towards rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which held the promise of reshaping age-old fault lines in the Middle East. India was hoping to reap the dividends of the newfound peace in the region.		The spate of horrifying surprise attacks over the weekend puts India in a diplomatic tight spot. This is because the current hostility tests the Abraham Accords and the efforts towards rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which held the promise of reshaping age-old fault lines in the Middle East. India was hoping to reap the dividends of the newfound peace in the region.
		+
		+	===Gandhi’s advice of non-violence===
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/gandhi-in-1938-asked-jews-and-palestinians-to-shun-violence/articleshow/104332288.cms With inputs from Reuters. Research- Rajesh Sharma, Oct 11, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	In 1938, Mahatma Gandhi advised “Jews to choose the way of non-violence to vindicate their position on earth”, while writing on the issue of the persecution of the community in Germany.He drew a parallel from the Indian satyagraha campaign in South Africa and said that while Indians had resorted to peaceful protests without any backing from other nations, the Jews in Germany were in a much better position as they had organised world opinion behind them.Despite his deep sympathy for the Jews, he did not mince words, arguing that “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French” and that it is wrong and inhuman to “impose the Jews” on the Arabs.Gandhi’s article was published in Harijan , a weekly magazine, in November 1938, almost 10 years before the Israel-Palestine conflict would start destablising West Asia.
		+
		+	The latest armed conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, triggered by the latter’s surprise attack on October 7, has so far killed over 1,600 people. And the death count is expected to grow as Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and sent Palestinians fleeing into UN shelters on October 10.The Times of India carried a piece titled, "Mr Gandhi on the Jewish problem" in its issue dated November 28, 1939. Edited excerpts:On the Palestine issueTouching upon the Palestine issue, Gandhi wrote that his sympathy for the Jews “does not blind him to the requirements of justice”. “Surely it 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. It is wrong to enter Palestine under the shadow of the British gun.”“There are hundreds of ways", he said, “of reasoning with the Arabs, if they [the Jews] will only discard the help of the British bayonet.
		+
		+	“Several letters have been received by me asking me to declare my views about the Arab-Jew question in Palestine and the persecution of the Jews in Germany. It is not without hesitation that I venture to offer my views on this very difficult question,” he wrote.“My sympathies are all with the Jews. I have known them intimately in South Africa. Some of them became lifelong companions. Through these friends I came to learn much of their age-long persecution. They have been the untouchables of Christianity. The parallel between their treatment by Christians and the treatment of untouchables by Hindus is very close.”A message to the Jews“What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. The mandates have no sanction but that of the last war. Surely it 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,” Gandhi asserted.“The nobler course would be to insist on a just treatment of the Jews wherever they are born and bred. The Jews born in France are French in precisely the same sense that Christians born in France are French.“'If the Jews have no home but Palestine, will they relish the idea of being forced to leave the other parts of the world in which they are settled? Or do they want a double home where they can remain at will? This cry for the National Home affords a colourable justification for the German expulsion of the Jews.“And now a word to the Jews in Palestine. I have no doubt that they are going about it the wrong way. The Palestine of the Biblical conception is not a geographical tract. It is in their hearts. But if they must look to the Palestine of geography as their National Home, it is wrong to enter it under the shadow of the British gun. “A religious act cannot be performed with the aid of the bayonet or the bomb. They can settle in Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs. They should seek to convert the Arab heart. The same God rules the Arab heart who rules the Jewish heart…The mantra of non-violence“I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly, regarded as an unwarrantable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.“Let the Jews, who claim to be the chosen race, prove their title by choosing the way of non-violence for vindicating their position on earth. Every country is their home, including Palestine, not by aggression but by loving service.Then and nowThe state of Israel was established on May 14, 1948 to serve as an independent homeland for Jews fleeing persecution in Europe. Palestinians lament Israel’s creation as the Nakba, or catastrophe, that resulted in their dispossession and blocked their dreams of statehood.In the war that followed, some 700,000 Palestinians, half the Arab population of what was British-ruled Palestine, fled or were driven from their homes, ending up in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria as well as in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.Israel, a close ally of the United States, contests the assertion it drove Palestinians from their homes and points out it was attacked by five Arab states the day after its creation. Armistice pacts halted the fighting in 1949 but there was no formal peace.Palestinians who stayed put in the war today form the Arab Israeli community, making up about 20% of Israel’s population.
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		+	Major warsIn 1967, Israel made a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and Syria, launching the Six-Day War. Israel has occupied the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan, and Syria's Golan Heights ever since.In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Israel pushed both armies back within three weeks.Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and thousands of Palestinian fighters under Yasser Arafat were evacuated by sea after a 10-week siege. In 2006, war erupted in Lebanon again when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers and Israel retaliated.In 2005 Israel quit Gaza, which it had captured from Egypt in 1967. But Gaza saw major flare-ups in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021 that involved Israeli air raids and Palestinian rocket fire, and sometimes also cross border incursions by either side.As well as wars, there have been two Palestinian intifadas or uprisings between 1987-1993 and again in 2000-05. The second saw waves of Hamas suicide bombings against Israelis.Peace effortsIn 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, ending 30 years of hostility. In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat shook hands on the Oslo Accords on limited Palestinian autonomy.In 2002, an Arab plan offered Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it took in the 1967 war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.Peace efforts have been stalled since 2014, when talks failed between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington.Palestinians later boycotted dealings with the administration of US President Donald Trump since it reversed decades of US policy by refusing to endorse the two-state solution — the peace formula that envisages a Palestinian state established in territory that Israel captured in 1967.
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	=A brief chronology=		=A brief chronology=

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 Modi’s famous visit in 2017 was the first by an Indian Prime Minister, and with that, he took full ownership of a relationship that had mostly grown under the radar for over a quarter century.
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 FDI inflows from Israel to India from April 2000 to September 2016 totalled USD 107.6 million, according to figures released by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, India.
 Over 300 Israeli investments are present in India in the field of agriculture and high-tech.
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-==1960: Nehru’s plane was intercepted by Israeli jets over Gaza
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 [https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/pm-nehru-plane-intercepted-israeli-jets-gaza-military-digest-9004354/  Man Aman Singh Chhina, Oct 30, 2023: ''The Indian Express'']
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 “The Israeli excuses are quite evidently manufactured to try and put the blame on the United Nations. Since the UN had not formally informed the Israelis of the overflight and since the presence in the neighbourhood of UAR jets has given the Israelis a pretext for what they quite clearly knew was an unnecessary attempt at interception, there is little to be gained by pursuing this case,” the records state.
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