India has increased its annual contribution to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) four times. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs confirmed the news earlier this week, saying in a statement that New Delhi would send USD 5 million, instead of USD 1.5 million, to UNRWA from 2018-19 fiscal for a period of three years. The Agency has been in trouble since the US stopped providing aids to it. It has become increasingly difficult for the UNRWA to rehabilitate Palestinian refugees because of budget deficit.
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, senior spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry Raveesh Kumar said: “This enhancement was made in the backdrop of the unprecedented financial crisis being faced by UNRWA, which has been delivering valuable public services to Palestine refugees around the world.” According to Kumar, India made an announcement in this regard at the extraordinary ministerial conference in Rome on March 15 following an appeal made by the Agency.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a positive signal to the Islamic world in February by visiting Palestine. Although India recognised Palestine’s statehood way back in 1988, Modi was the first Indian premier to visit Ramallah. New Delhi also opposed US President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at the UN in December 2017. The Modi administration tried hard to make clear that India would always support the Palestinian cause and the close ties between India and Israel would never affect the India-Palestine relationships.

Palestinian President Abbas and Indian PM Modi

The US plans to open an embassy in Israel this year in order to mark the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish nation. Washington’s decision has prompted the Palestinians to start the ‘March of Return‘. Clashes erupted last week as thousands of Gazans marched towards the Israeli border in a major protest, leaving 15 Palestinians dead and hundreds seriously injured. Israel has alleged that the Palestinians are using ‘protests’ as a cover and helping militants cross the border or carry out attacks. A senior spokesperson of the Israeli Armed Forces claimed that the Palestinians forced them to use drone, tear gas and rubber bullets. “It is not a peaceful demonstration. There was no small number of attempts to damage the fence and cross the border,” she added. Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry of Egypt issued a statement, saying that it “denounces the use of force against civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
Noted political commentator Hussein Ibish has written in Abu Dhabi-based ‘National’ daily: “If there isn’t a major escalation of violence – especially with Palestinian leaders in utter desperation playing with fire and Israel immediately resorting to deadly force against unarmed demonstrators – it will be a political miracle. But the ‘holy land’ rarely delivers such miracles.”

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boundlessoceanofpolitics/

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Google Plus:
https://plus.google.com/+KoushikDasboundless

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kousdas?s=09

Contact us: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

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