Israeli air strikes have claimed the lives of 125 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more, while Hamas fighters continue to launch rockets towards populated Israeli residential areas, with reports of two Israelis wounded, but no casualties.
With Israel having mobilised a force of 40,000 reservists for a potential ground invasion of Gaza, there appears to be no end in sight to the violence.
Yet India’s stance on the conflict is likely to be cautious as it weighs several factors. The Indian government has responded to the escalation in hostilities in a neutral manner.
India is concerned about the "heavy air strikes in Gaza, resulting in tragic loss of civilian lives and heavy damage to property" as well as "cross-border provocations resulting from rocket attacks against targets in parts of Israel," said the spokesman for the ministry of external affairs, Syed Akbaruddin. He called upon both sides to "resume talks at the earliest, in adherence to the obligations assumed by them under the peace process."
India's views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are typically guided by three factors: vote-bank politics, ties with Israelis of Indian origian and trade.
Vote-bank politics: Given the strong backing of Indian Muslims for the Palestinian cause, the government must cater to these sentiments in order to not alienate themselves from Muslim leaders. Wikileaks cables have indicated that US officials in India have typically characterised the Indian stance as being driven by a desire "to avoid ruffling Muslim sentiments."
Diaspora: With between 70,000 and 80,000 people of Indian origin in Israel, the people-to-people connectivity between the two nations is fairly developed. The Israeli town of Dimona, commonly known as "mini-India" because of its 7,500- strong Indian Jewish community, recently came under rocket fire. While no injuries were reported, the interconnectivity of the two nations complicates political posturing on the conflict.
Trade: Perhaps no factor is as complex in defining the Indian government's stance towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as trade. While the advent of vote-bank politics has often pushed successive Indian governments towards the Palestinian cause, a burgeoning level of Indian trade with Israel has led to a less unequivocal diplomatic stance.
Israel is India’s second-largest source of arms, behind Russia, and this quantity only seems to be growing. With sizeable investments in Indian security, energy, aerospace engineering and agriculture industries, worth billions of US dollars, Israel’s imprint on Indian Middle East policy is growing.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was chief minister of Gujarat, industrialists in the state developed close ties with Israeli firms. The previous BJP government kindled Indian-Israeli relations, spurred on by the party’s Hindu nationalist roots and long-standing admiration for Israeli development.
Violence escalates
Diplomatic calls by the UN and officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany and Canada have not helped, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having openly declared that "no international pressure will prevent us from striking, with all force, against the terrorist organisation which calls for our destruction."
Netanyahu was referring to the Palestinian political faction, Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organisation by Israel, as well the US, EU, Egypt and others. It emerged as the dominant force in the Gaza strip after winning an election in 2006 and in the aftermath of subsequent violence between rival political organisation, Fatah.
So what led to the current escalation in violence? The majority of reporting on the situation puts the chain of events as such:
June 12: Three Israeli teens were abducted in the West Bank on their way home from school. The Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation Brother’s Keeper to locate the teens while targeting Hamas forces.
July 1: The bodies of the three missing teens are found in the West Bank. Israeli calls for revenge begin to populate social media, while rioters take to the streets.
July 2: A Palestinian teen is abducted, and his body is found an hour later, the victim of a suspected revenge killing. Protests take place, from which footage emerges of the victim’s cousin being brutally beaten by Israeli police. Rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel increase.
July 7: Israel launches Operation Protective Edge, which is ongoing.
It is important to note that the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict makes it difficult to establish which sides’ individual acts of violence preceded the other. For instance, while the current news narrative depicts Israeli deaths, followed by a revenge attack on a Palestinian, the proliferation of violence in the Occupied Territories often means that daily abuses slip under the radar. One instance, just weeks before the Israeli teens were abducted, resulted in the deaths of two Palestinian teenagers.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
With Israel having mobilised a force of 40,000 reservists for a potential ground invasion of Gaza, there appears to be no end in sight to the violence.
Yet India’s stance on the conflict is likely to be cautious as it weighs several factors. The Indian government has responded to the escalation in hostilities in a neutral manner.
India is concerned about the "heavy air strikes in Gaza, resulting in tragic loss of civilian lives and heavy damage to property" as well as "cross-border provocations resulting from rocket attacks against targets in parts of Israel," said the spokesman for the ministry of external affairs, Syed Akbaruddin. He called upon both sides to "resume talks at the earliest, in adherence to the obligations assumed by them under the peace process."
India's views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are typically guided by three factors: vote-bank politics, ties with Israelis of Indian origian and trade.
Vote-bank politics: Given the strong backing of Indian Muslims for the Palestinian cause, the government must cater to these sentiments in order to not alienate themselves from Muslim leaders. Wikileaks cables have indicated that US officials in India have typically characterised the Indian stance as being driven by a desire "to avoid ruffling Muslim sentiments."
Diaspora: With between 70,000 and 80,000 people of Indian origin in Israel, the people-to-people connectivity between the two nations is fairly developed. The Israeli town of Dimona, commonly known as "mini-India" because of its 7,500- strong Indian Jewish community, recently came under rocket fire. While no injuries were reported, the interconnectivity of the two nations complicates political posturing on the conflict.
Trade: Perhaps no factor is as complex in defining the Indian government's stance towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as trade. While the advent of vote-bank politics has often pushed successive Indian governments towards the Palestinian cause, a burgeoning level of Indian trade with Israel has led to a less unequivocal diplomatic stance.
Israel is India’s second-largest source of arms, behind Russia, and this quantity only seems to be growing. With sizeable investments in Indian security, energy, aerospace engineering and agriculture industries, worth billions of US dollars, Israel’s imprint on Indian Middle East policy is growing.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was chief minister of Gujarat, industrialists in the state developed close ties with Israeli firms. The previous BJP government kindled Indian-Israeli relations, spurred on by the party’s Hindu nationalist roots and long-standing admiration for Israeli development.
Violence escalates
Diplomatic calls by the UN and officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany and Canada have not helped, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having openly declared that "no international pressure will prevent us from striking, with all force, against the terrorist organisation which calls for our destruction."
Netanyahu was referring to the Palestinian political faction, Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organisation by Israel, as well the US, EU, Egypt and others. It emerged as the dominant force in the Gaza strip after winning an election in 2006 and in the aftermath of subsequent violence between rival political organisation, Fatah.
So what led to the current escalation in violence? The majority of reporting on the situation puts the chain of events as such:
June 12: Three Israeli teens were abducted in the West Bank on their way home from school. The Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation Brother’s Keeper to locate the teens while targeting Hamas forces.
July 1: The bodies of the three missing teens are found in the West Bank. Israeli calls for revenge begin to populate social media, while rioters take to the streets.
July 2: A Palestinian teen is abducted, and his body is found an hour later, the victim of a suspected revenge killing. Protests take place, from which footage emerges of the victim’s cousin being brutally beaten by Israeli police. Rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel increase.
July 7: Israel launches Operation Protective Edge, which is ongoing.
It is important to note that the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict makes it difficult to establish which sides’ individual acts of violence preceded the other. For instance, while the current news narrative depicts Israeli deaths, followed by a revenge attack on a Palestinian, the proliferation of violence in the Occupied Territories often means that daily abuses slip under the radar. One instance, just weeks before the Israeli teens were abducted, resulted in the deaths of two Palestinian teenagers.
