India still for Palestine cause, says PM

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha8217;ath arrived in the Capital at the crack of dawn, but it took a meeting with Prime Minister A.B. ...

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha8217;ath arrived in the Capital at the crack of dawn, but it took a meeting with Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee towards the end of the day for him to get the bold reassurance that he wanted: India would continue to support the Palestinian cause.

Officials did not say whether Vajpayee also delicately juggled New Delhi8217;s memories from the past with its new friendships in a reinvented world order, to be manifested in a first-ever visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in less than a fortnight.

Opp parties slam Sharon visit

NEW DELHI: Some non-Congress Opposition parties on Friday opposed the proposed visit by Israeli PM Ariel Sharon to India next month. 8216;8216;To have such a person as an honoured guest is an insult to India8217;s longstanding tradition of unequivocal support to the struggle of the Palestinian people for national liberation and an independent state,8217;8217; a joint statement issued by leaders of Left parties, Samajwadi Party, RJD and JDS said here. ENS

But as officials struggled during delegation-level talks in the day to put a reasonable face on a relationship New Delhi dare not politically disown, Vajpayee came to the rescue. He announced a Rs 10-million gift for medicines, 12 Tata Safari vehicles as well as a message for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Translated into convertible cash, the money for drugs barely amounts to 250,000, even though the made-in-India jeeps could be custom-made for the Third World-like tracks of the Gaza Strip. Earlier, MEA officials had debated quotas and slots for training Palestinian diplomats here as well as back in Palestine.

More important, in delegation-level talks that lasted for about two hours in the afternoon, India had continued to side-step the nub of the matter: Whether the presence of Israeli forces in the Palestinian territories 8212; for example, in Gaza and Ramallah 8212; amounted to an 8216;8216;occupation8217;8217; or not.

There was other jargon left over from history that seemed to fit the present 8212; even though the MEA was having none of it. Such as, were the Palestinians 8216;8216;victims8217;8217; in their 8216;8216;struggle8217;8217; against the Israelis? Could the 8216;8216;Palestinian violence8217;8217; be described as 8216;8216;resistance8217;8217;, or was it, as the Israelis saw it, 8216;8216;unadulterated terrorism?8217;8217;

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MEA officials simply refused to get drawn into descriptions. In any case, New Delhi seemed to have not taken a public position on the security fence being currently built by Israelis on Palestinian territory, said to be in complete violation not only of the US-sponsored 8216;8216;road map8217;8217; for peace but also of the older Oslo accords.

Still, sources pointed out that implicit in the reiteration of the Indian support for UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 8212; which allows for the creation of a Palestinian state as well as acknowledges the principle of land-for-peace 8212; New Delhi was said to have been critical of the Israeli presence.

Differences also remained on the definition of 8216;8216;terrorism.8217;8217; While the Palestinian side continued to seek exceptions for violence in defence of 8216;8216;liberation8217;8217; 8212; an international debate on terrorism is likely to come up at the forthcoming UN General Assembly in a big way 8212; New Delhi believes that there can be no exceptions to the rule. Terrorism, especially after 9/11, must be condemned in any manifestation and for the sake of even small motives.

Tomorrow, Nabil Sha8217;ath meets Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra.