In the month of March, the United Nations had asked India to mediate between Israel and Palestine because India was a close ally of both the countries and could do the needful. For a long time, India has said that Palestine should have East Jerusalem as its capital whereas Israel should have West Jerusalem as its capital.
India has a long history of engaging itself with the Palestinians and the Israeli people and the Israel Palestine dispute, even before the Independence of India. In 1936, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian National Congress celebrated Palestine Day.
In 2018, America shifted its Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, effectively recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. America and Israel withdrew from the UNESCO, pointing out that UNESCO was extremely anti-Israel in its attitude. In fact the United Nations was repeatedly discussing Resolutions passed by member states to impose sanctions on Israel. Encouraged by this response, Hezbollah, Hamas and PLA repeatedly launching attacks on Israeli territory, causing heavy casualties on the part of the IDF. Rape and molestation of innocent Israeli women and children was carried on by these militant groups. Several government and military officers were kidnapped or shot in cold blood.
Anti-Semitism
In response, Israel launched extensive military operations against these Palestinian terrorist groups. This caused anti-Semitic people and advocates of Intifada all over the world to actively argue for BDS again and again. BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement, in fact, is an extremely extremist movement against Israel, initiated by several Palestinian groups in 2005.
Anti-Semitism has a long history. In the Middle Ages, whenever a child disappeared or was found dead, people blamed the Jews. The child’s blood, people thought, had been used to make the Passover matzah. Literary figures like Shakespeare and Dickens, promoted Anti-Semitism, consciously or unconsciously, through The Merchant of Venice and Oliver Twist. Hermann Goedsche’s novel, Biarritz, (1868) described the Devil appearing before a mysterious group of Rabbies who were a part of a “Jewish conspiracy”, as per Mr. Goedsche. In a chapter in this book , “In the Jewish Cemetery of Prague,” representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel met at midnight to discuss taking over the world, embarking on a mission for global Jewish dominance through religion, business, politics, academia, literature and other fields. Encouraged by the success of this book, “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” was published by the Imperial Russian newspaper Znamya in 1903. It is an anecdote of secret Jewish meetings, unveiling a Jewish plot to control the world. It continues to be translated, published and read worldwide.
In March 1997, Nabil Ramlawi, the PLO’s representative to the UN Office in Geneva accused Israel of killing Palestinian children. Israelis have been accused of spreading mad cow disease to Palestinians through chocolates, killing Arab children and extracting their organs to sell them in the market at a high price and sending AIDS-infected Israeli prostitutes to infect Arabs in the West Bank.
India’s Role
Amidst a series of confrontations between the two parties, it remains to be seen whether India can successfully mediate between Israel and Palestine and solve the decades-long dispute. We can only hope for the best as India has a good rapport with both the parties and has outstanding people at its disposal to do the work, both within and outside the IFS. We must help Israel in combating Radical Islamic Extremism (RIE) emanating from Palestinian soil, which is very close to Pakistan. This will act as a double-edged sword of making India even closer to Israel and a strong deterrent against RIE in India. India should also try to assuage the difficulties of the Palestinians. It must not miss this opportunity to create history.
About the author: Sauro Dasgupta is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a specialization in International Relations at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. He is interested in reading, writing, public speaking and his writings have been published in many important magazines, journals and newspapers. Email address: [email protected]
