Sharon dials the Dr, says hello

Aiming to settle the somewhat noisy rhetoric in the new Indian establishment with Israel, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon telephoned Pri...

Aiming to settle the somewhat noisy rhetoric in the new Indian establishment with Israel, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon telephoned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last evening.

The courtesy call is believed to have lasted a mere 5-7 minutes, during which Sharon also congratulated Singh on his assumption of office, but it clearly signals Tel Aviv8217;s interest in maintaining the intensity of the relationship with the new left-of-centre Congress government as which existed when the more conservative BJP was in power.

Interestingly, there seems to have been a little bit of a debate within the Congress party over the call. As per protocol, normal with every head of state or government who wants to speak to the PM, the Israelis had earlier called to ask when and if it was convenient for Manmohan Singh to take the call.

According to one point of view, Sharon8217;s right-wing government was not honouring its commitment to the road map with the Palestinians, thereby denying them their legitimate aspirations for a Palestinian state.

Moreover, in public comments recently, External Affairs minister K. Natwar Singh had stated more than once that India8217;s good relations with Israel could not come at the 8216;8216;expense of its warm and traditional ties with the Palestinians.8217;8217; The Left parties who support the government, the observers added, had also periodically had their say on the issue. Ultimately, however, the 8216;8216;pragmatist and realistic8217;8217; view within the Congress won. It was during the Congress government of P V Narasimha Rao in 1992, that full diplomatic relations between India and Israel were established. During the Kargil war, Israel was one of a few handful of nations which had considerably helped India with arms and ammunition.

And while India had grown, during the BJP government8217;s lifetime, to become Israel8217;s largest defence client8212;buying sensors for the fence along the LoC as well as the Phalcon radar for the AWACS system8212;the government was well aware that no other country in the world would sell it this kind of path-breaking and very high-end technology. Certainly, the Congress government would never abandon its moral commitment to the Palestinian issue, but contacts with the Israelis would also remain. Congress sources pointed out that Ariel Sharon had called upon then Leader of the Oppn Sonia Gandhi when he visited India, first ever Israeli PM to do so, last autumn.