Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has urged India to use all capacities in order to end the Israeli atrocities in Gaza. He made the request during his telephonic conversations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the two leaders discussed different aspects of the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas Movement. According to a statement issued by the Government of Iran, President Raisi reportedly said that it was the right time for India to exercise its power as an important player in Asian geopolitics.

Interestingly, President Raisi raised the issues of India’s Freedom Struggle against (British) colonialism and its leadership in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), stressing that New Delhi should play a similar role in an attempt to restore peace in West Asia. Then, he told Prime Minister Modi that India should use all its capacities to stop the atrocities of Jews against the oppressed Palestinian people.

The Iranian President further called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, stressing on global joint effort to provide aid to the oppressed people of Gaza. Raisi believes that the indiscriminate killing of innocent Palestinian people will have far-reaching consequences. During his conversations with Prime Minister Modi, he condemned the Israeli attacks on hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and residential areas, and the killing of innocent women and children in the Gaza Strip.

The Indian Prime Minister, too, expressed serious concern over the death of common Palestinian citizens in Israeli attacks. He informed the Iranian President that although India condemned the attacks by Hamas, the South Asian nation still follows its old position of standing by the Palestinian people. Prime Minister Modi made it clear that India would be in favour of a permanent solution of the ongoing crisis and peaceful coexistence of Israel and Palestine. The two leaders also discussed India-Iran ties over phone.

Incidentally, the number of Palestinian citizens killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza exceeded 10,000 on November 7, 2023. The Health Department of Palestinian Authority (PA) confirmed that the death toll from a series of attacks by the IDF on Gaza in response to Hamas October 7 rocket attacks in Israel touched 10,122. So far, 152 civilians have been killed in Israeli strikes in the Fatah-controlled West Bank. On the other hand, Tel Aviv has claimed that around 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the last one month in attacks by Hamas and another Palestinian armed group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Antony John Blinken, the US Secretary of State, faced protests from Arab nations during his recent trip to West Asia. Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and other West Asian nations demanded an immediate ceasefire. In such a scenario, the Iranian President, too, called for a quick ceasefire between the two warring parties.

A Story of Peace & Coexistence
Palestine experienced its longest period of peace during the 401 years of Ottoman Rule, beginning with the conquest of Jerusalem in 1516 and ending with the dawn of the British Mandate in 1917.

Looking back at history, Palestine’s troubles began when the Ottoman Empire, in the wake of the First World War in 1918, was forced to cede the territory to the League of Nations after enduring a protracted series of fierce fighting in defence of the Palestine front. The League of Nations handed it over to the British to administer as a mandate. As it was later revealed, the British and the French had other ideas, having already secretly signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 and publicly announced the Balfour Declaration in 1917.

What unfolded afterwards is well known. Lesser known is what existed in the region before. In other words, there existed a period of peace, harmonious coexistence and the flourishing of local culture during the Ottoman Empire’s continuous 401-year-long rule.

(With inputs from Instagram)

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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