‘Facing joint Israel-US war in Gaza': Palestine situation is a litmus test for global order, says ambassador Abdullah Abu Shawesh
Slamming the Western countries for 'giving away their homeland', Shawesh said that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had destroyed two schools and a university library that were built with funding from India. 'There is nothing left in Gaza,' he added.
He also criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who met American President Donald Trump recently and nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize—and pointed to the 'genocide in Gaza'.
Shawesh's remarks were made during an interactive session organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps. 'It is a joint Israel-US war we are facing in Gaza. Israel also has the support of many other Western countries, including the United Kingdom,' he said.
Asked about India's stand on the issue, in the light of the fact that it has bilateral ties with both Israel and Palestine, Shawesh said, 'I can talk about it at the macro level…We valued India's position (on it) through the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council and other places. India is still supporting Palestinians.'
India had also strongly condemned the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the loss of civilian lives in the Israel-Hamas conflict. India has consistently called for the release of all hostages and emphasised the need for safe, timely and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance, and creating conditions for an early resumption of direct peace negotiations towards a two-state solution to the Palestine issue.
The envoy said everyone talks about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, but the people of Palestine had 'suffered' before that. He also referred to the more-than-a-century-old Balfour Declaration and the subsequent chain of events that led to the creation of Israel in 1948.
'The Palestinian question is a quest for a global order; it is a litmus test,' he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the Summit of the Future in New York in September 2024 and called for a ceasefire, the release of the hostages, and a return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy.
Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More
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