External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday said that a response to the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip has to acknowledge the fact that the Palestinian people were “denied the right to their homeland”. Mr Jaishankar who is on a visit to Malaysia said that the challenge of foreign policy framing is to get the “balance right”. Referring to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, he said Indian interlocutors were used to “passed messages”.
“How different pulls and pressures can be? On one hand, what happened on October 7 [Hamas attack on Israel] was terrorism. On the other hand, nobody would countenance the death of innocent civilians. Countries may be justified in their own minds in responding, but you cannot have a response that…every response must take into account something called international humanitarian law,” Mr. Jaishankar said while interacting with the Indian community.
“The fact is whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue, there is the underlying issue of the rights of the Palestinians and the fact that they have been denied their homeland,” he said explaining the Indian understanding of the conflict in Gaza.
In the backdrop of the conflict that intensified after the Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Mr. Jaishankar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval have maintained a dialogue with various stakeholders in west Asia as well as in eastern Europe.
Mr Jaishankar will host Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, who is scheduled to arrive here later this week. He said that Indians have been talking to Russia “bluntly” and said: “Real life have a whole lot of complexities.” During his visit to Singapore two days earlier, Mr Jaishankar had referred to Russia-India relations as one marked by a “positive relationship”.
“So, tell me has Russia helped us or harmed us? Has Russia at crucial moments contributed or obstructed? Going ahead, are there gains to be made from Russia or is it only damage which will come out? So, if I do my calculations from my perspective and my experiences, I will get the answer – and the answer in this case is that Russia is a country with which we have always had a positive relationship,” said Mr Jaishankar in his remarks at a meeting of the Indian community in Singapore.
These articulations of the Indian position will be useful as Mr. Kuleba plans his visit, which is expected to be one of the stopover venues for the Ukrainian diplomatic team as they warm up for the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. On Wednesday, in a press briefing, Mr. Kuleba had welcomed India to participate in the summit.
