Israel-Gaza War: No, India Isn’t Drifting Away From Two-State Solution Stance On Israel-Palestine Issue

Israel-Gaza War: In the backdrop of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left no stone unturned to show Israel that New Delhi remains a steadfast friend of that country, his personal bonhomie with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is solid, and that India has zero tolerance for terrorism. However, this does not indicate that India is rethinking its two-state solution stance as far as the Israel-Palestine issue is concerned, ABP LIVE has learnt.

Prime Minister Modi was one of the first leaders to publicly condemn the attack launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7. In fact, he put out a post on X, formerly Twitter, expressing “shock and solidarity” within a few hours of the attack that the Hamas unleashed inside the cities of Israel that took the world by surprise.

While India has strongly condemned Hamas’ actions as an act of “terrorism” and expressed its sympathies to Israelis, New Delhi continues to remain firm on its two-state solution theory in resolving the conflict, top-level sources told ABP LIVE. According to the sources, India is "aware" of the fact that while it has not toed the line the Global South has taken, New Delhi is concerned about the fate of Palestinians too and that Hamas’ violent act cannot be seen as the official stance of Palestine. 

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu called Modi when the latter “expressed deep condolences and sympathy for those killed and wounded as a result of the terrorist attacks in Israel and conveyed that people of India stand in solidarity with Israel in this difficult hour”, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"He (Prime Minister Modi) reiterated that India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The PM highlighted the issue of safety and security of Indian citizens in Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu assured of full cooperation and support. The two leaders agreed to remain in close touch,” the statement said.

The two statements by India led many to believe that New Delhi might be re-thinking its foreign policy stance on the two-state solution regarding the decades old Israel-Palestine conflict, and that India has sided with Israel. However, India has time and again reiterated its stance at the UN that it will follow the two-nation theory wherein Israel and Palestine can coexist by dividing the disputed territory among themselves that will be agreed by both parties. 

In December 2022, Indian Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj had said there is “no alternative to the two-State solution to guarantee lasting peace between Israel and Palestine", even as she reiterated the need for “direct negotiation” between the two sparring parties.

“India cannot go against the two-state solution. Even the US cannot. And, India is not the player in this. We can only be a party to a multilateral process, like the G20 and where we can use our diplomatic skill to call for a solution by talking to both parties ... We have no capacity to pressure Israel or the Palestinians, who are backed by Iran and Syria. Israel is fully backed by the Americans. We have no means of taking sides,” former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, who is now the Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), told ABP LIVE. 

OPINION | Hamas’s Insurgency And Israel’s Humiliation 

UNSC Called Israeli Settlements In Palestine Territory Illegal

The UNSC adopted resolution 2334 in 2016 by 14 votes, where the council stressed that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had “no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders”.

Talmiz Ahmad, a veteran diplomat, who was twice the Ambassador of India to Saudi Arabia, told ABP LIVE: “The two state solution is approved by Israel, the US and the UN. It was envisaged in the Oslo Accords, but Israel has never had serious discussions on it. It has therefore been a non-starter, though no one has formally abandoned it.”

The Oslo Accords were an agreement signed in 1993 between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The pact laid down a roadmap for a two-state solution to resolve the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Under this, Palestine would agree to give up their claim to 78 per cent of the land that belonged to them historically and in return they would get an independent state in the remaining 22 per cent.

Sibal also stressed: “The only solution is a two-state solution that the UN has supported in various resolutions. PM Modi is only focusing on terrorism and not accepting it in any form. But this is not the end of the matter. The right of Palestine to a state is enshrined in the UN Resolution to which India is a party. But the Israelis have continued to repeatedly expand settlements and Netanyahu himself never agreed to this.”

He added: “Hamas will continue to get external support and that is a reality. This is because for Iran and Syria, putting pressure on Israel means putting pressure on the West. There are linkages that Qatar also has with Hamas … Only UNSC can find a solution with the two-state mechanism but today there is a block within the UNSC members with Russia and China on one side and the rest on the other.” 

On October 7, during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, Hamas launched a massive and violent attack against Israel breaching all security barriers that the country boasted of, taking the entire world by surprise. Since then, Israel has launched a counter attack with the aim to “cripple” Gaza, which Palestine has called to be an act of “dehumanisation”.