India’s May 16 statement on the current conflict at the UN Security Council was exceptionally nuanced and well- crafted to evade all the diplomatic minefields that can come in the way of its dual engagement of Israel and the Arabs, reports Atul Aneja
A web of high stakes in its ties with both Israel and the Arab world, especially the oil rich Gulf countries, is pushing India to join the global effort for an early ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza.
India’s ties with Israel are deep, multi-layered and strategic. New Delhi relies on Israel not only for critical military hardware, but also for high quality intelligence. The two share common concerns about international terrorism, which were reinforced during the Mumbai 26/11 terror strikes. The duo also has an excellent people-to-people relationship, evident from the arrival in droves of Israeli backpackers, especially those who want to chill-out in a safe haven, following their arduous compulsory military service back home. Because of these multiple factors which have spawned an exceptional relationship, India cannot afford to antagonise Israel in the international fora on the Israel-Palestine issue.
Yet, India has a historic relationship with the Arabs as well. India has traditionally supported the Palestinian cause – a position that has echoed warmly in the Arab street and generated enormous goodwill for the Indian people, and industry, in the region. But real, pragmatic reasons have also emerged in recent years which have reinforced India’s bonds with the Arabs.
More specifically, India has to be careful to respect the sensitivities of its friends in the Gulf countries. India depends critically on the Gulf countries for its energy security. Second, the Gulf monarchies employ millions of Indian guest workers, who remit billions of dollars to India’s coffers. The people-to-people warmth between the two could not be better, after the Gulf nations became formidable providers of liquid medical oxygen when Indians needed it most during the Covid-19 second wave.
India, therefore cannot go overboard in its support of Israel during a conflict, in deference to the mainstream sentiment in the Gulf street. Finally, India is mindful that its position towards the Arab world in the past, has echoed domestically, including in Kashmir, which it cannot afford to ignore.
Unsurprisingly, India’s May 16 statement on the current conflict at the UN Security Council was exceptionally nuanced and well- crafted to evade all the diplomatic minefields that can come in the way of its dual engagement of Israel and the Arabs.
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In its statement, India rejected Hamas rocket firings into Israel, which has killed an Indian caregiver, Soumya Santhosh. It described the use of formidable force by Israel as “retaliatory strikes” to the Hamas’ “indiscriminatory” rocket attacks, pushing the Israeli action into the grey-zone of self-defence. India’s position is in tune with its rejection of cross-border rocket attacks, in view of Pakistan’s bid to push terrorists across of the Line of Control (LoC).
But simultaneously, India has stuck to the standard UN-backed “two-state” formulation, as the basis for ending the Israel-Palestine conflict. “Immediate de-escalation is the need of the hour, so as to arrest any further slide towards the brink. We urge both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions, and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood,” the Indian statement said.
Given the tug-of-war on its position on the conflict, it is in India’s interest that the warring between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza ends quickly. In seeking peace, India would be inevitably joined by its partners in the Gulf countries, who would sincerely want the violence to end, to preserve their recent position of recognising the state of Israel.
52K displaced
A UN report said on Tuesday that 52,000 Palestinians took refuge at schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, as a round of probably heaviest fighting between Israel and Gaza since 2014 has lasted nine days, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press statement that Israeli fighter jets destroyed, either totally or partially, 448 constructions in the Palestinian coastal enclave since May 10, Xinhua reported.
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for OCHA, said in the statement that 132 buildings were completely destroyed and 316 partially destroyed, including six hospitals and nine healthcare centres.
Meanwhile, the government press office in Gaza said Israeli fighter jets carried out at least 1,615 airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in the last nine days, targeting homes, buildings, government establishments and infrastructure.
An Israeli military statement said 60 fighter jets were sent to bomb underground tunnels belonging to Hamas in Gaza while more than 100 missiles were fired in 35 minutes early on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, militant groups led by Hamas fired over 100 rockets from Gaza at Israeli towns and cities, but 70 of them were intercepted, the statement added.
According to a statement by the health ministry in Gaza, a total of 213 Palestinians, including 61 children and 36 women, were killed and 1,442 others injured in the recent Israeli air attacks on the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Calls for immediate cessation
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief, called on Tuesday for the “immediate cessation of all violence and implementation of a ceasefire” between Israel and Palestine.
At a press briefing after the EU foreign ministers’ video conference on the Middle East situation on Tuesday afternoon, Borrell cited a statement backed by 26 member states but blocked by Hungary’s veto as Budapest supports Israel, Xinhua reported.
The EU has thus been prevented from taking a common position on the escalating Middle East conflict.
“The purpose (of the call for a ceasefire) is to protect civilians and to give full humanitarian access in Gaza,” Borrell said. He added that the violence in the past few days has led to a high number of civilian casualties, including children and women.
“We condemn the rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups on the Israeli territory, and we fully support Israel’s right to defense, but we have also considered and stated that this has to be done in a proportionate manner and respecting international humanitarian law,” Borrell said.
He said that the security of Israel and Palestine requires a true political solution because only that could bring peace.
He called for reopening the political process, exploring reengagement between the conflicting parties, developing confidence-building measures and improving the living standard of the people in order to open a path towards a potential launching of the peace process, which has been in a stalemate for too long.