NEW DELHI: It will be President Pranab Mukherjee and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will make the historic first visit by an Indian statesman to Israel and Palestine . The visit will happen in October this year and will include a presidential visit to Jordan as well. This, senior officials familiar with the matter said, is a recalibration of official thinking. There was a view in the current policy establishment, backed by some influential BJP and RSS leaders, that India must be more assertive about its relationship with Israel. The possibility of a prime ministerial visit to Israel was widely discussed in the media and it followed shortly after India abstained from a UN Human Rights Council vote critiquing Israel.Israel had thanked India, and Palestine had expressed dismay. There has, however, been some rethink on official visits to this volatile region, senior officials said. The Modi government, in agreeing to a presidential visit to Israel and Palestine, has decided on a more “evenhanded” approach, an official said. Another official said the suggestion that a Palestine visit be twinned with an Israel visit was debated vigorously in the government.The view that India must be less coy about its growing relationship with Israel was strong but ultimately the view that appearing to take sides in a bitter dispute may be a high-risk strategy is the one that prevailed. Plus, since the PM is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia and UAE in the near future, India’s approach on reaching out to all important players will be underlined, an official quoted above said. Iran is another country India is reaching out to, after the US-Iran nuclear deal was signed. India’s abstention from the UN vote had been seen as a subtle departure on Israel-Palestine policy. However, India’s official line is that the abstention was due to the resolution’s reference to International Criminal Court, of which New Delhi is not a signatory. The Israeli foreign ministry had later disclosed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called PM Narendra Modi along with other global leaders to garner support for his country.The Modi government has been quite eager to step up contact with Israel, a key defence partner for India. Also, New Delhi is in constant conversation with Israel on a range of anti-terror security upgrades. From the time diplomatic relations were established with Israel by the Narasimha Rao government, the relationship has also expanded across sectors like agriculture and science & technology.While the two UPA governments kept links alive, it shied away from toplevel contact with Tel Aviv. Some cabinet ministers and many chief ministers had visited Israel, but no visits at the highest level were ever planned. President Mukherjee’s Israel trip is a therefore a breakthrough, senior officials said, but twinning it with a Palestine visit also means India does not appear to radically depart from its longstanding policy.