Israel-Gaza War: Palestine Is Looking At 'Heavy Power' India To Be A Mediator, Envoy Abualhayjaa Says

Israel-Hamas War: Palestine is hopeful that India being a “heavy power” will play the role of a “mediator” urging Israel, especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to “stop seizing territory”, and it also wants New Delhi join hands with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey and distribute humanitarian aid to the 2.2 million Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip, according to Adnan Mohammad Jaber Abualhayjaa, Ambassador of Palestine to India.

Speaking exclusively to ABP LIVE as the war between Israel and Hamas raged on, the Palestinian envoy said New Delhi should call for a ceasefire at Gaza Strip “immediately” as Israeli forces killed 1,900 people there, including children.

“We want India to play a role. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is respected by both (Israel and Palestine). I request him to please do something. At least at the moment (PM Modi can) call for a ceasefire or bring humanitarian aid for the 2.2 million people living in the Gaza strip. They are living without electricity, water, food, fuel and medicine. This is a war crime. They (West) said Russia committed war crimes during the Ukraine war. But when it came to Israel, it was about defending themselves. This is the double standard of this world,” said Abualhayjaa.

“Hope the Government of India and the Prime Minister himself play a good role (in this crisis). This is an opportunity, especially for India, as you (India) know what is the crisis facing the Palestinian people, what is the catastrophe of the Palestinian people since the time of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948,” he stressed.

According to Abualhayjaa, India can join hands with other players in the Middle East such as Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and others, adding that, “India is a heavy power. It can easily manage to cooperate with them (in sending aid).”

He said: “This has to be done and pressure has to be put on (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu because if you leave him saying he has to defend himself, then he will have a free hand in creating massacres in Palestine. In fact, he has himself called for that. So we are looking at India to be a mediator and to see the seizing of territory is stopped (by Israel) and send humanitarian aid to the 2.2 mn Palestinians living in the West Bank."

The Ambassador also hinted at the fact that the President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas may soon speak to Prime Minister Modi in this regard. President Abbas held a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Friday in the Jordanian capital Amman.

President Abbas has told Blinken that he “rejects the forced displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza based on Israel’s evacuation orders to forcefully move around 1.1 million towards the south.

India has been a strong proponent of the two-nation policy wherein Israel and Palestine will share the disputed land amongst themselves and coexist peacefully side by side with officially recognised and demarcated borders, based on direct negotiations.

Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs has recently said: “Our policy in this regard has been long standing and consistent. India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine living within secure and recognised borders, side by side at peace with Israel.”

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Can’t Live Under Occupation Forever, There’ll Be More Wars

According to Ambassador Abualhayjaa, as per the international law, people who live under occupation have the right the defend themselves.

"We are living in an unjust world where Palestinians are facing this problem for the last 75 years. (Even) if I don’t want to go to the ‘Nakba’ of 1948, I will go to the occupation of West Bank and Gaza, including Jerusalem in 1967. Since then we are living under one of the ugliest occupations in the world. The world did not look at what the Israelis are doing with the Palestinian people… Gaza is an open air prison without any hope,” he said.

“Now when the attack has happened on the Israelis, (the) entire world has moved. But you cannot call anyone who is under occupation and resisting it a terrorist,” the envoy said, referring to the violent assault launched by Palestinian militant organisation Hamas against Israel on October 7.

He added: “A terrorist is the one who occupies… The occupant is the biggest terrorist in the world … Those who are under the occupation are not terrorists. If a solution is not found now, we will see more such wars in the future. We cannot live like this anymore. We cannot live forever under occupation.”

The Ambassador said Palestine has full right to fight for their cause and they have the backing of the UNSC Resolutions, which has reached a staggering 800, that call Israeli occupation as “illegal”.

“International community should find a resolution to the Palestinian cause as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will see more wars, more massacres. This should stop.”

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‘Hamas Going To Be Political Party If There’s Real Peace Solution’

According to Ambassador Abualhayjaa, Hamas will become a political party whenever a peace solution with Israel is agreed upon.

“When we went to the Oslo Agreement we had 22 per cent of historical Palestine. And we were expecting that in 1999 we will be living independently as neighbours, as brothers with the Israelis … But they killed Rabin, who was a peaceful man,” he said.

On September 13, 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiator Mahmoud Abbas signed a Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, commonly referred to as the “Oslo Accord”, at the White House.

“Since the coming in of Netanyahu. This is his sixth government. He started to destroy the two-state solution, the Oslo Agreement, killing people. Many wars have happened under his rule. Today he is heading the most extreme government in the history of Israel,” said the envoy.

He said in order to bring this decades-old crisis to an end, the US has to work out a mechanism. “US and the European countries have to stop their double standards.”