For New Delhi, both Israel and Palestine matter
It is unfortunate that President Pranab Mukherjee had to skip the inauguration of a secondary school named after Jawaharlal Nehru in East Jerusalem following protests by angry students who expressed their opposition to India's growing ties with Israel. The protesters carried placards, one of which read, “Dear India, boycott Zionism, our murderer, our butcher”. There was another, which said, “You have to listen to our voice”. It is evident that sections of people in Palestine are upset with New Delhi's deepening relationship with Israel, but they are driven more by emotion (the recent violent clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians being a possible trigger) than rationale in their outburst. India has never abandoned the cause of Palestine, and there is nothing to suggest in the conduct of the Narendra Modi Government that this traditional approach is going to be reversed. On the contrary, the Government has re-emphasised that it stands for a just solution to the Palestinian grievances. But that does not mean New Delhi has to be defensive about its proximity to Israel. In fact, closeness to both Palestine and Israel is one way for India to play a meaningful role in sorting out issues between the two warring parties. The historic visit by President Mukherjee will most likely be followed by one the Prime Minister makes sometime in the near future — perhaps in the coming months. There had been an unfortunate tendency over the years for India to be seen distanced from Israel, although the latter has been an invaluable partner in times of crisis, so as to appease the sentiments of the Palestinians. But times have changed. There is not just a greater amount of interaction among the Palestinians and the Israelis but also between nations that have taken opposing stands on the issue. Being pro-Palestine is not, and should not be seen as, equivalent to being anti-Israel, and vice versa. In recent months, Prime Minister Modi has interacted both with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It's time for India's old diplomacy in West Asia to give way to a new narrative, and the Government of India is working in that direction.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians need to realise that the use of terror by groups such as the Hamas against the Israeli state is not creating the right environment for peace in the region. Also, the extremist position the organisation has taken — of eliminating the Israeli nation and replacing it with an Islamic Palestinian one — is most undesirable. You should not expect harmony when you threaten the very existence of a nation. And, harping on the ‘Jews versus the Muslims' sentiment does nothing to advance stability in the region. Neither Israel nor the Jews nor the Palestinians are going to disappear. On past occasions, Israel and Palestine came close to an agreement, but the peace failed to hold. It can only be hoped that good sense prevails and the spate of violence ends.