Why Palestine consider the India as faithful partner to resolve their conflict?

• Palestine wants, to some extent, India to act as interlocutor as their faith does not lie much within the US, China or Russia. India believes that peace talks are the only way ahead for stability to come in the region and ending this decades old conflict.
• India has close relationships with both the states and it supports Palestine but choosing one over the other is not wise.
• Change in Leadership- The leadership and generational change in politics of the two States is really very crucial.
• Both the Isreali and Palestinian Prime Ministers have been in power for quite long. Ideally, they shall step aside, the domestic survival politics for power and the desire of holding on to their chairs is overriding the broader interest of the region and its people.
• There is hope for the newer generation to come and rethink for a two state solution.
• Also, bringing Hamas into moderation is much required.

Factors Triggering the Conflict

• Hamas in Rule in Palestine: Hamas, found in 1987, is a violent offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood seeking "to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine" through violent jihad.
• The Palestinian President is quite old age and hence, senile and unable to fight for the cause.
• So, Hamas is the more radical faction of the Palestinians which has now started retaliating.
• The so-called president authority of Palestine is neither conducting elections, nor functioning properly, the dictatorship of the Hamas and Israeli seizure of territories and limitations is aggravating the Palestinians.

Political Instability in Both the States:

• There is incapability and stagnation in the leadership structures on the both sides thus leading to too many groups getting out of control, who are resorting to maximum violence.
• Moreover, Israel has had 4 elections in the last two years and all of them were inconclusive. The Prime Minister of Israel has retained his post but only in a caretaker form.

Divided Israel:

• The Israelis are all highly divided.
• The Arabian Israelis who are just 20% of the population, identify with the Palestinians due to the same ethnicity.
• The Arabian Israelis and the far-right community of Israel are engaging in civil war like activities inside the country.

Issues with the Palestinian People:

• The ground sentiments of the Palestinians are also changing, the majority of them saying they do not want a two state solution.
• It is also not decided if Hamas will rule over the Palestinian state or the Fatah or neither of these.
• The Palestinians have been a divide lot between between the Hamas and the Fatah and the two are moving on the different tracks which is the main reason for the defeat of the ultimate Palestinian cause.
• United Palestine with the help from the Arab world and the other countries could have achieved much more than it is achieving now.
• They are geographically separated by Israeli territory so it is not a viable state anymore, plus, the land going into the Jewish hands is further aggravating the Palestinians.

The US Losing its Significance in the Region:

• The US is preventing the meeting from taking place at the UNSC for Palestinian cause and completely recognises the rights of Israelis to defend themselves.
• The US President recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s de facto capital also became a major problem.
• The US, under President Joe Biden, does not have much leverage on Israel, unlike the US under Donald Trump who clearly supported Israel. They are trying to be more even handed.
• Although the current administration in the US has talked about being neutral, it hasn’t invested much diplomatic energy in this conflict.

When Diplomatic relations established between India and Israel?

• Diplomatic relations between Israel and India were fully established in 1992 despite attaining Independence from the British Empire within a year apart.
• Cold war politics had a lot to do with the initial frosty relations between India and Israel.
• India was part of the Non-Aligned movement while keeping a close relation with the Soviet-bloc and by proximity the Arab world., while Israel was an ally of the United States and NATO.
• When the Cold War began to thaw in the 1980s, so two did the relations between the two nations beginning with a flurry of bilateral activity
• This was demonstrated when Israel provided intelligence during the Kargil conflict in 1999 and provided disaster relief during 2001 Bhuj earthquake
• With the establishment of full diplomatic ties, both countries have benefited immensely. India is one of Israels premier trading partners.

Military Collaborations

• Israel has sold radar and surveillance equipment for military application and it also gives counter-insurgency training to India’s anti-terror forces
• India-Israel cooperation increased dramatically in 2014 with the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Between Modi’s election in May 2014 and November 2014, Israel exported $662 million worth of Israeli weapons and defence items to India.
• This export number is greater than the total Israeli exports to India during the previous three years combined. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon made the first-ever official visit of an Israeli Defense Minister to India in February 2015.
• On May 10, 2017, three warships from the Indian navy docked in the port of Haifa, ahead of Indian Prime Minister Modi’s scheduled to visit during the Summer.
• The ships, the INS Mumbai, the INS Trisula, and the INS Aditya, participated in a Naval drill with the Israeli navy when they entered the port.
• In wake of the strained relationship between China, India announced plans in July 2020 to purchase additional weapons from Israel.
• The defence ministers of both Israel and India have discussed strengthening bilateral ties where there was interest expressed in encouraging greater participation of Israeli defence companies in the Indian defence sector.

Latest Developments

• The Israeli National Emergency Medical Service, MDA-Magen David Adom (Hebrew for Red Star of David) and the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) held a joint training program during July 2017 aimed at improving and upgrading the IRCS first-responder skills.
• In 2017, a record 70,000 tourists from India visited Israel.
• This trend continued into 2018, with 40,000 Indian tourists visiting Israel during just the first six months of the year.
• Air India began running faster (approximately 7 hours) direct flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv four times per week in March 2018, so tourism numbers are expected to continue to climb.
• The first recipients of grants from the Israel-India Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) were announced in July 2018, including companies working to better the lives of Indians and Israelis through efficient water use, improving communications infrastructure, solar energy use, and life-changing surgeries.
• The fund aims to help Israeli entrepreneurs enter the Indian market.

Where Abraham and Oslo peace accord helped Israel to maintain harmony with Arab nations ?

Abraham Accord

• The Abraham Accords are a joint statement made between Israel, the United States and the United Arab Emirates on August 13, 2020. It also refers to the agreement reached between Israel, Bahrain and the UAE to normalise relations between the three.
• The original Abraham Accords were signed by the UAE’s Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 15, 2020. The first UAE Ambassador to Israel, Mohammed Al Khaja arrived in the country on March 1, 2021.
• The accords are named after the patriarch Abraham regards as a prophet in both Judaism and Islam.

Reason for Hostility

• The relationship between Israel and the rest of the Arab nations have been hostile ever since Israel was founded in 1948. Largey the hostility was due to the question of Palestine and its sovereignty.
• A total of three large scale wars between Israel and multiple Arab nations had taken place from 1948.
• The Third one, the Yom Kippur War of 1973 made sweeping changes in Middle-Eastern politics that would be evident for years to come.
• Although Israel emerged as the victor, it realised that its long-term military domination would not always be guaranteed. Egypt and Syria meanwhile were frustrated at their efforts despite coming close in defeating Israel.
• Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt was wary of further conflicts with Israel. His country had lost more than they had gained and thus in an unprecedented step made the decision to recognise Israel as a sovereign nation.
• To this effect the Camp David Accords were signed between  Israel and Egypt. Formal recognition was granted by Egypt in 1979.
• This opened the possibility of peace with other Arab nations as well but such notions were met with hostility from other nations as well. Despite this Jordan became the second Arab nation to formally recognise Israel in 1994.

Oslo Accords

• Oslo Accords are a series of agreements between Israel and the Palestinians signed in the 1990s.
• Oslo I (1993) is formally known as the Declaration of Principles (DOP). The pact established a timetable for the Middle East peace process. It planned for an interim Palestinian government in Gaza and Jericho in the West Bank.
• Oslo II is officially called the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza (1995), expanded on Oslo I.
• It included provisions for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from six West Bank cities and about 450 towns.
• Additionally, the pact set a timetable for elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.
• The interim pact was only supposed to last five years while a permanent agreement was finalised but it has tacitly been rolled over for more than two decades.

Who is the first Israeli President to visit India?

• In 1997, Ezer Weizman became the first President of Israel to visit India. In 2000, then home minister Lal Krishna Advani became the first Indian minister to visit Israel. The same year, Jaswant Singh became the first foreign minister of India to visit the country.
• Ariel Sharon became the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit India in 2003.
• The current Prime Ministers of the two countries, Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu, have visited the other’s country in recent years.
• While Modi visited Israel in July 2017, Netanyahu arrived in India next January; Modi broke protocol to personally receive him at the airport. Netanyahu, too, had personally received Modi in 2017.
• India has its embassy in the second-largest Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Israel, meanwhile, has its embassy in India in Delhi. It also has consulates in Mumbai and Bengaluru.
• Jerusalem, which Israel considers as its capital, is also considered by Palestine as its capital city. This is why most countries have their embassies in Israel in the city of Tel Aviv.
• The United States recognised Jerusalem in December 2017, and shifted its embassy there in May 2018.
• During his visit to Israel, Modi met Moshe Holtzberg, one of the youngest survivors of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Now grown up, Moshe lost his parents in the attacks, and was rescued by his nanny, Sandra Samuel.
• Moshe, who turned 14 last November, came to Mumbai in 2018, accompanying Netanyahu on the trip. During Modi’s visit to Israel, the first by an Indian PM, the boy had expressed his wish to visit Mumbai.
• India is the largest buyer of military equipment from Israel, which, in turn, is the second-largest defence supplier to India, after Russia. India is also the tenth-largest trade partner of Israel, and the third-largest from Asia.

How has the India-Israel Relations been So Far?

Diplomatic Ties:

• Though India officially recognised Israel in 1950, the two countries established full diplomatic ties only on 29th January 1992. As of December 2020, India was among 164 United Nations (UN) member states to have diplomatic ties with Israel.

Economic and Commercial Relations:

• From USD 200 million in 1992, bilateral merchandise trade stood at USD 4.14 billion (excluding defence) during the period April 2020 – February 2021 with the balance of trade being in India’s favour.
• Trade in diamonds constitutes about 50% of bilateral trade.
• India is Israel's third-largest trade partner in Asia and seventh largest globally.
• Israeli companies have invested in India in energy, renewable energy, telecom, real estate, water technologies, and are focusing on setting up R&D centers or production units in India.
• India is also in dialogue with Israel for concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Defence:

• India is the largest buyer of military equipment from Israel, which, in turn, is the second-largest defence supplier to India, after Russia.
• The Indian armed forces have inducted a wide array of Israeli weapon systems over the years, which range from Phalcon AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control Systems) and Heron, Searcher-II and Harop drones to Barak anti-missile defence systems and Spyder quick-reaction anti-aircraft missile systems.
• The acquisitions also include a host of Israeli missiles and precision-guided munitions, from Python and Derby air-to-air missiles to Crystal Maze and Spice-2000 bombs.
• At the 15th Joint Working Group (JWG 2021) meeting on Bilateral Defence Cooperation, countries agreed to form a Task Force to formulate a comprehensive Ten-Year Roadmap to identify new areas of cooperation.

Cooperation in Agriculture:

• In May 2021, “a three-year work program agreement” for development in agriculture cooperation, was signed.
• The programme aims to grow existing Centres of Excellence (CoE), establish new centers, increase CoE’s value chain, bring the Centres of Excellence into the self-sufficient mode, and encourage private sector companies and collaboration.

Science & Technology:

• Recently, experts from India and Israel deliberated on widening the scope of India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) at its 8th Governing Body meeting.
• They approved 3 joint R&D projects worth 5.5 million USD and suggested measures to create a broader India-Israel collaborative ecosystem.
• I4F is a cooperation between the two countries to promote, facilitate and support joint industrial R&D projects between companies from India and Israel to address the challenges in the agreed ‘Focus Sectors’.

Others:

• Israel is also joining the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA), which aligns very well with the objectives of both countries to scale up their cooperation in renewable energy and partner in clean energy.