Gaza's global challenge

India did well to reiterate its stand on Palestine

Now that it is clear that the visits of US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to West Asia have yielded sub-optimal results, it is critical that the global diplomatic efforts focus on de-escalation to relieve the mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Mr Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv — as, indeed, those of the German and French heads of government — has achieved little beyond persuading the Israelis to allow the opening of a narrow corridor from Rafah on the Egyptian border to enable the flow of humanitarian aid to non-combatants trapped in Gaza. But agencies insist that the aid is nowhere near sufficient to address the catastrophic shortages of food, drinking water, and health care supplies in an area without electricity and water, usually supplied by Israel, since the Hamas attack on October 7.

The death toll has crossed 5,500 on both sides in just two weeks of fighting. At the same time, expressions of solidarity from the US, backed by two aircraft carriers and accelerated supplies for Israel’s Iron Dome air defence systems and a mobilisation of its military bases in West Asia, have encouraged the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to continue pounding the 365 square km enclave in its bid to eliminate Hamas and recover the 200 hostages the terrorist group took in the shocking massacre on October 7. On October 19, the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Hamas and calling for a humanitarian pause to hostilities (Britain and Russia abstained) appears to have strengthened Israel’s stated intention to launch a land invasion of Gaza to eliminate Hamas. To this end, tens of thousands of troops have been mobilised along the Gaza border. Should this happen, the dangers of regional escalation, with all its implications on fuel pricing, will quickly become evident. Already, Iran-backed Hezbollah has launched exploratory attacks in the north. It is only the US lifting of sanctions on Venezuela that has prevented oil prices from shooting up further this week.

Mr Biden’s failure to explicitly call for de-escalation has exasperated West Asian allies Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In this context, the Indian diplomatic establishment’s reiteration of its stance — it was the first non-Arab nation to recognise the state of Palestine in 1988 — and a call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to express condolences and talk about deteriorating security situation are unexceptionable. The fact that Mr Modi called Mr Abbas nine days after speaking to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing solidarity with Israel, had raised questions among West Asian nations, given India’s historical stance. In the Israel-Palestine dispute, New Delhi has to calibrate its position carefully. India’s growing reliance on Israel for defence electronics and its importance to the US as a reliable counterweight to China have to be weighed against the need to maintain traditional strong ties with West Asia, on which New Delhi depends for oil and gas and, increasingly, foreign direct investment. Now, by sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, India has recouped its reputation for adroitly balancing its competing interests in the region as it did after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This will serve it well in the challenging days ahead.