More Arab than Arabs

Having hoped that the Left parties, especially the CPM, would develop a sensibility for national interest along with a stake in the ruling UPA coalition, mainstream India had to be disappointed again. This time it is the Left intervention against Israel. The demands on the government to scrap the defence relationship with Israel and work for international sanctions against Tel Aviv suggest that control over the levers of power at the Centre has not resulted in a greater sense of responsibility on the part of the Left.

We find the Left posturing on Israel objectionable for three reasons. First, very few in this country, or in the world, fully agree with the tactics that Israel has adopted in dealing with the threat to its security from southern Lebanon. That in no way implies India should abandon its own national interests in the relationship with Israel. Since the early 1990s, the defence cooperation with Israel has emerged as an important component of the nation8217;s much needed military modernisation. Successive governments led by very different coalitions since 1991 have found defence ties with Israel irreplaceable. Second, in putting forth extreme demands on India8217;s Israel policy, the Left is trying to be more Arab than the Arabs. No Arab nation has objected to India8217;s defence cooperation with Israel. In fact many of them have urged India to use its good offices in Israel to promote peace in the Middle East. Also, the Arab League itself has condemned the Hizbollah8217;s provocative rocket attacks against Israel. Third and most unfortunate is the seeming unwillingness of the Left to recognise the real and present danger from terrorism. Thus perhaps the Left8217;s contradictory demands on Israel and Pakistan. While demanding sanctions against Israel, the Left has insisted that India must continue the peace talks with Pakistan despite Mumbai blasts.

Peace processes in the Middle East and the Subcontinent will not survive for too long the terror unleashed by Hezbollah and the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Refusing to see this reality will only align the Left with those who seek to communalise India8217;s foreign and national security policies. The UPA government must demonstrate its will by insisting that our relations with Israel have nothing to do with the current crisis in the Middle East.