Once again, India has made it clear that it will maintain a balanced approach while dealing with Israel-Palestine conflict.
A month after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New Delhi, Indian PM Narendra Modi is all set to visit Palestine in February. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed that the PM will visit Palestine, the UAE and Oman from February 9-12. The ministry said in a statement that Modi would arrive in Ramallah on February 10. It is to be noted that the Indian PM skipped Palestine during his ‘historic’ visit to Israel in 2017.

Modi with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Last year, Modi became the first Indian PM to visit Israel. And now, he is set to become the first Indian PM to visit Palestine. Diplomats are of the opinion that it will be a significant visit as far as bilateral ties are concerned.
The opposition parties in India had strongly criticised PM Modi for ‘avoiding’ Palestine during his visit to Israel last year. Opposition leaders claimed that the PM did so in order to shape India’s ties with the Jewish nation. Dr Khalil Shikaki – a Professor of Political Science and Director of Ramallah-based ‘Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research’ – had expressed serious concern over the ‘change’ in New Delhi’s foreign policy, saying that India had described Palestine as a ‘friend’ soon after the creation of Israel in 1948 and helped it become a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1974. By making such moves, India virtually recognised Palestine’s statehood. However, Modi has made some changes in India’s age-old policy towards Palestine. “The current PM (Modi) seems more interested in security and in relations with the West. Palestinians seem to believe that they can no longer count on India’s support,” stressed Dr Shikaki.

Modi with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

Despite maintaining cordial ties with Israel, India surprised the global community in December 2017 by voting in favour of a resolution brought by Turkey and Yemen in the UN opposing the US’ decision recognising Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. However, India’s move didn’t have much impact on its ties with Israel and PM Netanyahu didn’t cancel his trip to the South Asian country. Now, PM Modi is ready to send a clear message to the world through his visit to Palestine.
Apart from holding talks with the top political leadership in Ramallah, the Indian premier will also attend the 6th World Government Summit in Dubai during his four-day three-nation tour to West Asia. He will try to strengthen defence and trade ties with both Oman and the UAE.

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das