‘We want India in this coalition’: Palestine envoy calls on New Delhi to join Saudi-led Gaza rebuilding plan

Days before President Trump put forward the “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza conflict” last week, Saudi Arabia had announced the launch of an emergency international coalition to fund the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Speaking at a press conference in New York on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the coalition would provide direct financial support to the PA “with a number of important partners.” Saudi will contribute $90 million for the effort.

Shawesh said that the Palestinian authority would like India to be part of this coalition, talking about his conversation with officials in the Ministry of External Affairs last week. “This is the most significant time for a country like India, the champion of the South, to jump and say that we are going to invest heavily in this, we will be with the Palestinian authority,” he said.

Although the envoy added that India already brings $5 million each year to “the United Nations entity that is dealing with the Palestinian refugees, but when it came to this new coalition, we would like India to be there, and I already requested the Indian government to make a significant contribution.”

“If India leads this type of effort, this is investment on the two-state solution (that India has advocated),” he added. India has already committed investment to build a hospital in Gaza, as per the envoy, while their diplomatic institution was also built by India some years ago.

India helped build the Palestine Institute of Diplomacy in Ramallah, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the facility during his visit to the West Bank in February 2018. The institute was built with an Indian contribution of $4.5 million, and is designed to provide training for Palestinian diplomats.

He says it’s pertinent for India to join this coalition since “the declared Israeli policy is to (ensure the) collapse of Palestinian Authority financially”. He added that the Israelis are withholding their country’s tax revenue and strangulating their economy.

As per a statement issued by the Saudi foreign ministry on September 27, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK announced the launch of the Emergency Coalition for the Financial Sustainability of the Palestinian Authority.

“Its immediate purpose is to stabilise the PA’s finances and preserve its ability to govern, provide essential services, and maintain security, all of which are indispensable to regional stability and to preserving the two-State solution,” the statement said, adding, “The coalition has attracted a large and diverse group of supporting countries and partners from across regions, many of which have already made significant financial contributions and pledged sustained support.”

However, the envoy added that they are hopeful about the proposal mooted by President Trump, which was released after a visit by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. “We are with any genuine effort that will go into ending the ongoing carnage, that will ensure there is sufficient food in Gaza so that no more children are dying.”

“This should be taken as a step forward to a peace process that will lead to the two-state solution, which is the final solution to the Palestinian question,” he noted. Talks aimed at reaching a final agreement on a US peace plan to end the war in Gaza are ongoing in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

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