Latest news with #Shawesh
The Print
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Print
‘Israel created Hamas' but we will not label it a terrorist group, says Palestine's envoy to India
Though he said Hamas was 'an essential part of the Palestinian people,' he drew a sharp distinction with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Hamas, Shawesh reminded, had 'expelled us from Gaza in 2007'. The envoy also distanced the Palestinian Authority from the 7 October attacks by Hamas to which Israel responded with military action that has been ongoing for over a year and a half. 'We are not in agreement with Hamas on 7 October. President (Mahmoud) Abbas was clear—hostages should be released,' he said. New Delhi: Hamas was 'created by Israel' but Palestinians will not accept anyone designating it as a terrorist organisation, Palestinian Ambassador to India Abdullah Abu Shawesh asserted in a wide-ranging interaction with The Print. Tracing the origins of Hamas, the ambassador accused Israel, with alleged encouragement from the British, of facilitating the rise of the Islamist movement in the late 1980s to undermine the PLO, which had by then gained international recognition as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. 'After the Arab League and India recognised the PLO in 1974, Israel chose not to sit at the negotiating table. Instead, it created al-Mujamma al-Islamiya, the original Hamas, under Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. They destroyed the Palestinian Authority's security apparatus and allowed Hamas to fill the vacuum,' he told ThePrint. At the same time, he made it clear that Palestine will not designate Hamas as a terror organisation, adding that India too doesn't designate it as a terror outfit. 'Hamas is an essential part of the Palestinian people. But Hamas doesn't represent the Palestinian people. As the Palestinian Fatah movement, led by Yasser Arafat, we believe resisting occupation—including through armed struggle—is a right under international law. Therefore, we reject any attempt to designate Hamas as a terrorist group,' he said. In the interaction, replete with historical references, the envoy sought to offer a deeply personal, unfiltered counter-narrative to mainstream accounts of the Israel-Hamas conflict, particularly in the wake of the 7 October terror attacks. Also Read: As Gaza's doctors die, a young woman abandons her plans to become a teacher to one day take their place PLO vs Hamas Shawesh stressed that the PLO, led by Abbas, supports peaceful resistance and diplomacy, in contrast to Hamas's more militant stance. However, he was equally firm that whether Hamas is a terrorist or a revolutionary organisation is debatable. But Hamas, he maintained, remains 'a central part' to the Palestinian people. With Hamas currently excluded from contesting Palestinian elections, the ambassador explained that this was because 'it has not accepted the political obligations of the PLO'. 'Anyone who wants to participate in our political life must accept the PLO's obligations. That includes recognition of the Oslo Accords and our right to build a state on just 22 percent of our historical land,' he explained. 'Why does history begin on 7 October? No one talks about the 400 Palestinians killed before that day in 2023 alone, or the thousands languishing in Israeli prisons,' Shawesh said, referring to the narratives post the 2023 conflict. He called for an international inquiry into the events of 7 October, before and after. 'We want the truth. Who supported Hamas? Who facilitated 7 October? Let's investigate it all.' Drawing parallels with India's colonial past, he said, the Palestinians are facing the same circumstances. 'In 1857, India faced the exact same situation that we are facing today. Thousands of your ancestors were slaughtered because they started a military resistance. History is there, and we, the Palestinians, copy you.' The ambassador highlighted India's early support for the Palestinian cause, especially its 1947 vote against the UN partition plan. 'India was the first after the Arab League to recognise the PLO in 1974. But today, the Israeli ambassador is on your TV screens daily. We are not even given a chance to speak,' he said. Adding, 'We are the victims of occupation and unfortunately, we are even denied the right to tell our story.' 'No comparison between 7 Oct & Pahalgam' The Palestinian ambassador also asserted that there should be no comparison between the October 7 attack by Hamas and the Pahalgam terror attack, calling such comparisons not on India's 'side at all.' 'No one should compare what happened two months ago with what happened on 7 October at all. Your army is not an occupation army. You are not an occupier. You have your own border. This happened according to your government, at least,' Shawesh said. 'You are not occupying. You are not targeting the people because they are Muslim, or because they are Hindus, or your army targeting them because they are X or Y of faith. We used to be targeted because we are Gazans, we are Palestinians.' Shawesh was clear that while India did deliver a measured response to Pakistan, there were 'no massacres' committed by the Indian armed forces. The Palestinian ambassador further highlighted that the Indian military is not blacklisted by the United Nations for failing to protect children. In comparison, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) was in June added to a list of 'offenders failing to protect children'. The stark differences between the IDF and the Indian military make any comparison between the events of April and May in South Asia an 'unfair comparison' for Indian society as a whole, the Palestinian envoy said. At least 60,000 people have been killed in the Gaza strip since Israel began its retaliation for the 7 October attacks. Large parts of Gaza have been destroyed in over 650 days of consistent bombardment by Israel. In a conversation with ThePrint last month, Israel Ambassador Reuven Azar sought to cast Tel Aviv's action in Gaza in a similar vein to New Delhi's Operation Sindoor. India's retaliation to Pahalgam targeted terrorist complexes and infrastructure across Pakistan, including Jaish-e-Mohammad's Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's Muridke facilities. Azar had highlighted that the events of 7 October that left nearly 1,100 Israelis dead and a further 250 taken hostage was roughly 10,000 times in intensity to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, when comparing the populations of India and Israel. On his part, the Palestinian envoy sought to explain the situation in Gaza using a similar yardstick. 'Can I use this scale? We are talking about 7 percent of the Gazans who were killed and injured. God forbid, compare it to the 1.5 billion Indians. How many million? 95 percent of the Gazan people are totally living in man-made shelters, as displaced persons.' 'This means that, because I'm using the same exact scale to measure, to compare, this means that approximately 1.3 billion, if not more, of the Indians have lost their homes.' (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: 4 of Five Eyes & 24 other nations condemn Israel's actions in Gaza, call for it to stop
Indian Express
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Facing joint Israel-US war in Gaza': Palestine situation is a litmus test for global order, says ambassador Abdullah Abu Shawesh
The Palestine situation is a litmus test for the global order, Abdullah Abu Shawesh, the Palestinian Ambassador to India, told the media in New Delhi on Friday, adding that they are facing a 'joint Israel-US war' in Gaza. 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
India Gazette
09-07-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Not a conflict, it is
New Delhi [India], July 10 (ANI): Palestinian Ambassador to India, Abdullah Abu Shawesh, said that the conflict between Israel and Gaza is not a conflict and termed it Israel's 'brutal aggression', which he said has continued for 642 days. He expressed hope that Israel's brutal aggression and massacre would come to an end 'very soon.' Speaking to ANI, Shawesh said that approximately 10,000 civilians have lost their lives due to the conflict in Gaza, which has lasted for the past 642 days. When asked about the Israel-Gaza conflict, he said, 'I find all the time myself having no other choice except to correct somebody's very minor vocabulary, which is very important. When you mention that conflict, this is not conflict, this is an Israeli brutal massacre and it was continued for 642 days so far, so that it's ..a massacre, it's a genocide, it's not a conflict and it is very important. But this conflict or this genocide, this genocide, I'm sorry, this genocide was costing us so far for the last 642 days, approximately 100,000 innocent civilians, or the vast majority of them is women and children. How did we see it? We hope that very soon there will be an end of this war or end of the Israeli brutal aggression, brutal massacre against the Palestinians.' He emphasised that a ceasefire occurs when there are two armies fighting against each other and said it is not the case in Gaza. He mentioned that they cannot talk about a ceasefire with regards to Gaza conflict, but speak about Israel and the US ending the war in Gaza. Regarding the potential ceasefire, he said, 'When you said that there is a ceasefire, this means that you still believe and of course you're very distinguished and very respectful followers, there are two armies who are fighting against each other. This is the exact meaning of ceasefire when we use the word according again to the international law, using the ceasefire, this means that there are two armies fighting against each other, which is not the case, unfortunately.' 'There is American-Israeli weapons. American is at the hands of the Israelis, supported and with the total complicity of many Western country is launching a war against the Palestinian people on Gaza and on the West Bank. This war cost us thousands and thousands of civilians. So, there is, we cannot talk about ceasefire. We can talk about ending the Israeli, the American-Israeli war on Gaza,' he added. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump's foreign envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that he hoped to have a Gaza ceasefire deal by the end of the week as negotiators make substantial progress working through remaining issues. Trump also met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday. Abdullah Abu Shawesh said that India has a lot of running projects in Palestine, which are supporting the sustainable development there. He stressed that it is time for the Indian government to push more projects on sustainable development in Palestine. When asked about the role played by India amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, he said, 'To continue supporting the they used to support the Palestinian, question like how did they still supporting the Palestinian question and then I mean in the United Nations and international arena to still and to continue supporting the Palestinians when it came to the financial or the sustainable development issue.' 'India have a lot of projects and running projects in Palestine which is supporting the sustainable development, the Palestinians and the sustainable development level. This is the exact time for India and for the Indian people, for the Indian government to push more for more project when it came to the sustainable development, specially while we are facing an intentional policy, Israeli policy to bankruptcy the Palestinian government and Palestinian authority,' he added. (ANI)
