New Delhi
22 June 2007
Ambassador CR Gharekhan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
Special Envoy for West Asia and the Middle East Peace Process, says India is
distressed and deeply saddened by the turn of events in Gaza.
He also says New Delhi shares the "conclusion and assessment" of the League of Arab
States's extraordinary meeting, which was held at Cairo in Egypt, that violence must end
and the hands of Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas needs to be
strengthened.
"India agrees with that assessment," Ambassador Gharekhan said in his inaugural
address of a seminar on "Palestine: 1967 and After". The Indian Council of World Affairs
and the League of Arab States Mission organised it at Sapru House.
He hastened to add that more needed to be done. "This (supporting Mahmoud Abbas)
has to happen but this in itself is not enough." He wondered whether the international
community could have handled differently the situation arising from the victory of Hamas
in the January 2006 election.
Ambassador Gharekhan referred United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East
Peace Process Alvara de Soto's end-of-mission report, to suggest that the international
community could have built on the Hamas's explicit acceptance of the Oslo process,
which was evident from the fact that Hamas took part in the election, by engaging the
new Hamas government and not boycotting it.
"This is one of the ifs of history ... [it is] difficult to come to a definitive conclusion," he
said, "[but one should] try to benefit from the lessons of history." He observed that the
Arab world must be extremely wary of permitting outside interests to come in the way of
achieving the shared objective of a Palestinian state.
"Indian history is an example [of how] outsider has his own agenda and [affects the]
cause," he said.
Another official observed that the "worst humiliation" anyone could be subjected to, was
to render him or her, stateless. "... that is the defining characteristic of the Palestinians,"
he said.
Palestinian scholar Khalil Muhammad Tafakji, who was invited to the seminar, is a case
in point. His "travel document" is issued by Israel. A page from that travel document
reads: "This travel document does not constitute an attestation of citizenship of bearer."
In another page, his citizenship is described as "Jordanian" and his country of birth is
"Israel".
The official went on to describe how the international community-brokered agreements
and accords did not mention the "state" of Palestine. Instead they preferred the phrase
"final status".
He said, "It beats how the international community, from 1948 to 2002, did not mention
the State of Palestine, until it found mention in the UN Security Council Resolution in
2002." He asserted that an "unending series of plans and mechanisms" or the "vision"
of US President George Bush or the "horizon", as US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has said, did not mean anything to the Palestinians because their quality of life has
not improved. "... fanciful names may crop up in future but it does not mean anything to
the people of Palestine," he said.
Palestinian scholar Khalil Muhammad Tafakji said, "There is no Palestinian Authority on
the ground ... there is Swiss cheese on the ground," alluding to the attempts to divide
Palestinian land into pieces. He said that Israel has increased the number of housing
units and number of settlers after the Oslo Accord to such an extent that today, the
population of Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem has risen from zero to 1.82 lakh since
1967.
Palestinian Ambassador to India Osama Musa, in turn, said that there was a need to
preserve Palestinian unity and narrowing the gap between Fatah and Hamas. "Delaying
peace is nothing but a part of a policy aimed at reinforcement of the occupation, to reach
to a point where there is no light at the end of the tunnel," Mr Musa said.
He added, "Israelis need to make up their mind, to choose which way they want to go.
Similarly, a number of Israelis should stop putting oil in fire. The flames of anger are
surrounding Israel. The losses of lives are the responsibility of all parties."
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