Jaishankar on Palestine: Speaking on the Middle East crisis and the Israel-Palestine problem, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated on Wednesday that India is open about its position and eventually favours a Palestinian country.
Speaking on Vishwa Bandhu Bharat at Gargi College, Jaishankar said, “So you have a very tense, very complicated situation involving Israel, involving the Palestinians, involving many Arab countries, the Gulf monarchies, involving Iran. There was an exchange between the Iranians and the Israelis a few days ago, they fired on each other.”
“Now, look at how a Vishwa Bandhu would approach this situation. We were very clear when Israel was, on October 7, when the terrorists attacked Israel that this was terrorism. We took a clear stance on it. When Israel responded, we also took a position that, whenever any military response takes place, it is very important that civilian lives are protected. And if you are displacing civilians so they are no longer in their homes, you have to give some kind of humanitarian corridor out there. We also have, when Israel and Iran started firing at each other,” Jaishankar stated.
Business Standard reported that, during his speech at Gargi College EAM, Jaishnkar also revealed that he contacted the foreign ministers of the relevant parties on behalf of the Prime Minister, voicing worries over the region and recommending moderation.
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“I personally called up the two foreign ministers there on the Prime Minister’s instructions and basically told them saying, look, the whole region is worried. I mean, we urge you, don’t go forward on this. And today, actually while we are doing all of this, and by the way, in terms of the Middle East, we support eventually a homeland for the Palestinians and we are very public about that as well,” Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar also mentioned India’s practical involvement in the crisis, pointing out that the country has about 20 ships stationed in the Red Sea to lessen maritime attacks, which impede commerce and drive up expenses.
“We also today make a practical contribution. About 20 of our ships are actually in the Red Sea, making sure that these attacks on shipping, which increase the cost of trade, that those attacks are limited. So I give you again, just think how many parties, Israelis, Palestinians, the Arab countries out there, the Iranians, and yet we are able to actually engage all of them,” said the EAM.
Jaishankar continued, saying, “We had urged students to come home. The vast majority of students stayed and found themselves in the conflict zone. They were in different cultures and different cities.” He then brought up the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022.
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Jaishankar highlighted the importance of the Vishwa Bandhu foreign policy while mentioning the ongoing attempts to engage with the neighbouring countries to guarantee the students’ safe evacuation.
“The challenge that we faced was how to bring students from a conflict zone. When considering how you accomplished this, consider the following: one was to make sure that as many people could arrive as soon as possible. Gunfire and bombardment was going on. You have to get other countries’ governments to work with you. This is how a Vishwa Bandhu foreign policy operates.
