by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
The Chinese statement of December 2 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the ‘Question of Palestine and the Situation in the Middle East’ should trigger introspection in New Delhi. Without doubt, this must be one of the most forceful endorsements of the Palestinian cause in recent times by a great power.
It comes at a time when the narrative in India, scripted by the pro-US, pro-Israeli lobbyists in the media, has crystallised that Palestine cause is dead and India must ‘move on’. The government, of course, indulges in dissimulation, paying lip service to the Palestinian problem but it cannot deceive onlookers.
Beijing, taking a diametrically opposite stance, places the Palestine cause “at the heart of Middle East situation,” impacting regional peace. The Chinese statement hails President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory message on the occasion of the International Day of solidarity with Palestinian people on December 1 reiterating that “China firmly supports the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights, as well as all the efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue.”
Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the Palestinian people? Doubtful. Certainly, it was no less important to do so than telephoning Boris Johnson, the prime minister of Britain, our erstwhile colonial master, to personally invite him as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January 2022.
Contrary to the Indian narrative, in the Chinese understanding, Palestine-Israel relations are “becoming increasingly tense and the peace process is dragging on in difficulty, and the risk of regional conflict is on the rise.” There is a fundamental divergence here between the Indian and Chinese reading of the Middle Eastern tea leaves.
The Modi government identifies the Abraham Accords as a defining moment. The External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar went out of the way to hail the Abraham Accords and to follow up with a tour of Manama and Abu Dhabi last week. He literally followed the US Secretary Mike Pompeo’s footfalls.
However, China insists that the “two-state solution is a bottom line of international justice, there’s no going against the tide of history… The relevant UN resolutions, the land for peace principle, and the two-state solution… are important parameters in the Middle East peace process… (and) are the basis for solving the Palestinian question, and should be duly observed and implemented.”
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