PM will be in Tel Aviv & Jerusalem from July 4; will not travel to Palestinian side

India’s relations with Israel should not come at the “expense of ties” with Palestine, but the Palestinian Authority (PA) understands the need for India to de-hyphenate ties with both, says Palestinian President’s diplomatic adviser Majdi ElKhaldi in an interview ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel.

“Our interest is [for Palestine] to deepen our relationship, and we hope that stronger ties with Israel will not come at the expense of this relationship. We understand that India has to manage its own balance in the region, and we would like to make [a] separation between these ties as well,” Dr. ElKhaldi told The Hindu in an interview over the telephone from Jordanian capital Amman, where he is currently.

Mr. Modi will travel to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem from July 4, and will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel.

However, unlike President Mukherjee, and three External Affairs Ministers Jaswant Singh (2000), S.M. Krishna (2012) and Sushma Swaraj (2016), Mr. Modi will not pay a visit to the Palestinian side.

Instead, the government had hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Delhi in May this year, separately signing several agreements on development assistance, and backing Palestine’s claim to a “two-state solution.”

“Our President spoke to Prime Minister Modi at length about the need to bring a resumption of Israel-Palestine dialogue and an acceptance of Palestine’s just demand for a two-state solution along the 1967-lines, with East Jerusalem as a capital,” Mr. ElKhaldi said.

Mr. ElKhaldi said that with his “vision and stature”, Mr. Modi could speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convincingly on the issue.

Significantly, he said there would have been no opportunity for Mr. Modi to have visited Palestine during his trip this week, as Mr. Abbas is travelling abroad for a week of hectic diplomacy himself.

On Monday, he is expected to address the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, and then travel to Tunisia, then France to meet President Macron, who like his predecessors is expected to play a key role in the Mideast peace process.

Also Read Abbas visit signals a shift

Asked if Mr. Modi’s visit to Israel but not to Palestine was an indicator of shifting equations with the two states, India’s Ambassador to Israel Pavan Kapoor denied it.

“We have reached that sense of political confidence in our relations with both the Israelis and the Palestinians where we feel we can work with them independent of each other, and [the PM’s visit] is a reflection of that,” Mr. Kapoor said in an interview at the embassy in Tel Aviv on Sunday. While Mr. Modi is expected to discuss the current situation in the Israel-Palestine process with Mr. Netanyahu during the visit, as well as the U.S.’s new push to forge a solution, officials say it is unlikely India would take a more mediatatory role in the conflict

Political confidence

“We have reached that sense of political confidence in our relations with both the Israelis and the Palestinians where we feel we can work with them independent of each other, and [the PM’s visit] is a reflection of that,” Mr. Kapoor said in an interview at the embassy in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

While Mr. Modi is expected to discuss the current situation in the Israel-Palestine process with Mr. Netanyahu during the visit, as well as the U.S.’s new push to forge a solution, officials say it is unlikely India would take a more mediatory role in the conflict.

En-route to a historic visit

1947: India votes against partition of Palestine

1950: India recognises Israel

1953: India permits Israel to open consulate in Mumbai

1992: India and Israel establish full diplomatic relations

2000: EAM Jaswant Singh visits Israel & Palestine

2003: Israeli PM Ariel Sharon visits India

2012: India votes in favour of granting Palestine "observer status" at the U.N.

2015: President Pranab Mukherjee visits Israel

2016: EAM Sushma Swaraj visits Israel

2017: Narendra Modi set to become the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel