Interestingly, on the first day, the government seemed to agree and the discussion was listed in the business of the day. However, on the day itself the government backed off, maintaining there was no need for a discussion on the issue at all. The Opposition parties took to the floor, the House was adjourned repeatedly for two days until finally the government agreed to a discussion, but only next week on July 21. The Opposition parties continued their agitation on July 18, demanding an immediate discussion on the issue that the government continued to resist. The Rajya Sabha thus was again adjourned repeatedly without business being transacted.
Despite this, there have been several protests by concerned citizens across the country with Delhi alone witnessing three demonstrations outside the Israeli embassy here in as many days. In one of these, angry students of different universities managed to get to the gates of the mission, leading to some panic and considerable high-handedness on the part of the police force.
Jammu and Kashmir, in particular, has taken its protest to the streets, with the police battling angry stone pelting youth on an almost daily basis. The emotionally surcharged groups giving vent to their feelings has worried the administration. It is, however, not using the kind of force often seen in the past to disperse the agitators. Kashmiri clerics and the business community have issued calls for the boycott of Israeli goods that seems to be set to now become a reality in the state. A shutdown called by Hurriyat leader Ali Shah Geelani in support of the Palestinians was particularly successful with all shops, commercial centres closed and even public transport off the streets.
In Mumbai, traders and shopkeepers have also decided to boycott Israeli goods, all spontaneous gestures that are feeding into the larger BDS campaign (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) that has been seeking the economic, military and social boycott of Israel. In Bangalore, groups objected to an Israeli cultural event, with every incident now adding to a rising disgust in India.
So much so that the new Israeli ambassador, almost as soon as he landed in Delhi, rushed to South Block to meet the mandarins of the Foreign Office and urge them to remember and act in accordance with New Delhi-Tel Aviv ties established during the days of the Manmohan Singh government and supported by the BJP. It is not clear what responses he received, but there is no doubt that the Opposition pressure on the government is having an impact and creating some unease in the corridors of power.
Israel is leaving its supporters with little defence as the photographs of innocent civilians and little children pour out of Gaza. The normally vocal pro-Israeli lobby in India, that is in fact usually rather aggressive in its views, is finding itself on the back foot and unable to defend the violation of every law and charter that Israel extends into Gaza.
The Congress Party, interestingly, is taking a lead in the Rajya Sabha against Israel and for the Palestinians after 10 long years during which it worked with the US and Israel to strengthen military and economic relations. This to a point where, in the past, similar acts of aggression by Israel against the Palestinians drew usually a delayed and visibly reluctant response from the UPA government. However, this time around the Congress seems to have got sight of some of its moorings and is vocal along with almost all other political parties representing India in demanding a discussion so that the ‘sense of the House’ could be communicated to the people of the country, and the world.
Perhaps, one could end with Mahatma Gandhi’s quote that should serve as a reminder to many in India and even the region, “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (44)
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Why should India give a flying fig for a conflict it has nothing to do with? Besides, why should anyone be supporting the Palestinians who started the current hostilities?!
@Hari Om: I agree with Ms.Seema Mustaf all those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause should boycott all Israeli products and all products using Israeli inventions and discoveries.
Ms. Seema Mustaf should take her newspaper offline since There has been significant Jewish contribution towards the creation of the internet. Rest on the boycott list:- Mobile telephone Twitter Facebook Medicines Solar Power Drip /Micro irrigation This will do for starters.. @Sexton Blake Dear Sexton Blake. I thoroughly agree. The newspapers are littered with examples of people who commit far greater atrocities than those who are usually labelled as terrorists. :
@Sridhar: "Bill Clinton said that Hamas attacked Israel" I am afraid President Clinton conveniently forgot to mention a couple of items. Incidentally, who classified Hamas as a terrorist organization and was the classification source trustworthy.?
@Wow:
do you even believe yourself ?
@Anwer Moorajanwer.mooraj@tribune.com.pk: Dear Anwer Moorajanwer, I am usually in general agreement with you and Seema Mustafa, and am glad to say that today is not an exception. Some people say they have enough problems of their own. I do not think anybody has that many problems that they can ignore outrageous brutality somewhere down the road. In regard to who is a terrorist, I think we need to take a hard look at the analysis of who or what is actually a terrorist or terrorist organization. It would appear that the most brutal and those who do the most killing in our small World are not classified as terrorists.
@Anwer Moorajanwer.mooraj@tribune.com.pk: Over the past few decades, Indian foreign policy has been turned largely realistic and India-centric. Gone are the days when Nehru used to fly around trying to build a coalition in the form of the non-aligned movement to combat both the west and the Soviet Union.
One of the effects of this is that while India puts in a faint murmur on foreign events, it does not show any appetite for following up words with action. As far as the Israeli attack on Palestine is concerned, first thing to note is that the current crisis was precipitated when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered. The relation between Israel and Palestine is intractable and in order to maintain equanimity, India maintains good relations separately with the two.
I mentioned in my previous comment that the author lives in a different India than the one I live in. The fact is that most Indians have enough problems of their own to be worried about the goings on in far away Palestine. The author seems to believe that there is a constituency in India which wants India to be involved in the cesspool that is Palestine and that to me amply indicates that her interactions are limited to a few within just one community.
Thank you for a wonderful article, Seema It is nice to see that there are still a few sane, humanitarian voices in India. I was appalled at the barrage of hate mail that accompanied your article, especially as it has emanated from a country that has always prided itself on supporting secularism and the humanitarian principles bequeathed by India's greatest son - Mahatma. Gandhi.I also get my share of hate mail. After all,as everybody who follows the Hegelian dialectic realizes every thesis has a contradiction.... A country has a right to defend itself. But it doesn't have the right to slaughter women and children who have nothing to do with the Hamas attacks and who, as it is, live a wretched life. It is truly sad that the whole world appears to have turned against against a people whose land has been illegally occupied by the support of a couple of right-wing imperialist powers There is a picture on Facebook posted by an Arab who wrote I donate my organs to the people pf Palestine and my middle finger to the leaders of the Arab world. . .
@Raj:
"Arabs don’t share the anti-India hatred of paks."
But Indians still do hate Arabs. A lot, in fact. Proof? Read the comments.
Razi;
I have been reading your comments with much interest.
Have you ever realized something? Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world. It is the only Jewish country in the world. An arab, whether treated as a second class citizen or not, still gets to live in Israel. Pakistan, a much larger country is hardly anything but secular. It was created for similar, but far less empirically accurate reasons. As we speak, your interior ministry has calculated one hundred Hindu families of those small percentage remaining in Pakistan flee as refugees to India every month. This is after the population of Pakistan has grown over six times in a short span of sixty years, created an Islamic constitution that has absolutely no rights for non Muslims, other than the 'rights' of the majority to treat with contempt, and utter disregard with its Blasphemy laws and unflinching bent of violence towards Hindus, driven out the over twenty percent of the population of the Hindus that formed West Pakistan, played a part in instituting a Taliban regime in your neighboring country to the west, and playing a role in driving out Kashmiri Pandits out of their historic homeland, besides committing genocide on Hindus in Bangladesh. Get a life.
@Razi: For a change, may be you would like to read the history and check that right after British mandate ended in Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria attacked Israel. Result, Israel took over West Bank, Gaza and Golan. Any way, in my opinion, Pakistanis should be stern supporters of Israel because it makes their own case, for a Muslim country to be carved out of India, stronger. If you think Jews don' have right of a nation in Palestine because it was Muslim's land, then how would you justify Muslim claim on Indian territory and their demand for a separate nation? Now its Indian's our holier than thou attitude but the simple fact that for a Muslim , a life of a Muslims is tad bit precious than a life of a Jew, which is making you failing to see that it was Hamas who started rocket attacks in this recent conflict. Also Egyptian offer, which Israel is ready to accept but Hamas not, clearly shows which party is ready for peace.
@someone
The same we-are-better-than-you syndrome that afflicts all Indians here. Try reading up on the Palestinian issue and the historical developments that led to the rise of Hamas. You should use the term terrorists for Israelis if you insist on using it for Hamas unless your warped logic does not allow you to see things beyond your country's 'self-interest'.
As an interested outsider, would it be that outrageous to remind the writer of the Mumbai Terrorist attacks in 2008? Here is a link to the BBC report ( not a radical or pro-Zionist institution) of 2009. India is indeed touched by the politics of the Middle East and its responsibility lies in supporting a free democracy akin to itself rather than a potential autocracy which is internally violent and corrupt. http://www.theguardian.com/news/blog/2009/jan/07/india-mumbai-dossier-pakistan
@Wow:
" If today Pakistan invades India, takes over a large chunk of land and subjects its population to anything similar to what the Palestinians have to go through, I think some of you Indians would want to fight back"
While I think the partition should be final, Pakistan does indeed occupy what was Hindu land for thousands of years. The Muslim invaders, whom Pakistanis claims to be the inheritors of, did indeed subjugate the local Hindu population for many centuries. So, the Indians do I understand the similarity that the ancient Jewish lands were occupied by Muslim hordes. The Muslim invaders then destroyed the holiest of Jewish temples and built the Al-Aqsa Mosque mosque over it.
Old Bookwale are fighting with newest bookwale, what goes of our PitaShree? Both are alien fundamentalists and blood thirsty. Indians are concerned with check-books and netbooks.
@Aseem You are wrong on one account. You say Arabs don't support India against Pakistan. You forgot to mention Arabs don't support or care for Pakistan either. They haven't been too forthcoming in supporting pak in its hostilities against India. Even the Oh I See empty statements on Kashmir every now then are done after tremendous push and pleading by pakistani nuisance. they really don't care for the paks.
Arabs don't share the anti-India hatred of paks. That's why we even invited the Saudi King to be the chief guest at our republic day parade a few years ago.
I agree India should stay neutral.
@Kalash wala: @Razi I don't think any Indian here mentioned that he supports killings of Muslims by Israelis however so many of Pakistani trolls keep commenting and wishing on destruction of Israel and Hindus in same breathe. Muslims of Pakistan love to see bad things happening to Israel or Hindu India. They would shed crocodile tears for Palestine but don't remember their own army killing thousands of Palestinians for Jordan. Of course there is a humanitarian crisis in Palestine but Pakistani Muslims keep ignoring the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians under the warped logic that Hamas rockets have not killed any Israeli. Those rockets are not Diwali firecrackers. They are meant to kill people and destruct property. Now either Hamas terrorist are really poor marksman or Israel have very good defense system or may be Israelis are plain lucky to have survived those attacks. Now its too bad there is no Gandhi or Mandela or MLK Jr. in Islamic society and finding such a person in near future is too remote possibility otherwise Palestinian could have gathered World support long time back.
Bill Clinton, ex presidnet of USA, who is on a visit to India, went on record on NDTV (interview with Burkha Dutt) to say that the Hamas attacked Israel with hundreds of rockets. Because of a robust anti-missile shield in place in Israel, few were hurt. If Hamas did not predict a huge response from Israel, it is living in cuckoo land. Israel would of course hit with everything it has. Missile attack on its population is serious. The bigger question is: why did hamas attack Israel in the first place if it know its attack would not do much damage and that the response would be huge and disproportionalte? Some believe that hamas wanted this huge civilian casualties to put Israeli on the dock as far as public opinion is concerned. Clinton did say in that interview that Israel would have to temper its response otherwise it would end up having international opinion against it. The civilian damage is heart rending but then hamas is a terrorist organization which does not have much sympathy around the world except probably among the muslims. How do you expect Israel to reconcile to hamas when latter does not even recognize Israel's right to exist?
My indian friends.. it is not the muslim crisis.. it is a humanitarian crisis in Palestine... numbers of innocent civilians have died because of Israel doctrine of collective punishment. Time to stand up with Palestine.
@Hussain: "India has to support Palestine. Enough is enough, they need help as soon as possible." India has to do no such a thing. In any case, Hamas is not Palestine. It does not command the loyalty of more than half the Palestinians on West Bank and has expressly gone against the recognized Palestinian government of Abbas.
@Reality Check: "Gandhi should have also said that Kashmir belongs to the kashmiris in the same breath" On the contrary, it was only after his approval Nehru and Sardar dispatched the Indian Army to Kashmir to rout Pakistani-sent hoodlums and goons.
@Razi: Ask any Indian if he would like India to denounce its secular culture and the response will be a big NO. Communal violence has its genesis in two-nation theory and later appeasement of muslims by politicians to use them as vote banks. The hindu face of Gujarat riots as perpetrator and muslim face as victim now share dias in public for and shake hands regretting what happenned. Indians dont have any permanent ill-will against any community. The so called hindu govt of Narendra Modi is enouraging a minority community to increase their population (something that pakistanis can never imagine). Muslim actors have been national heart throb and youth icons. there have been ace scientists, army generals, top bureaucrats, top sportsmen from muslim communities who have been loved by all. So, when Indians have a change of mind on Israel-Palestine issue, its not because they are anti muslim, its because of natinal interest. Moreover, when India supported Palestine, they did not support because palestinians were muslims.
I agree with you that instead of wasting time on controversial issue of Israel an Palestine, India should remain neutral and focus on her economic and social issues.
@Razi: Agree with you 100% Another way of looking at these Hindu trolls is,.. The more hateful, ugly, venomous comments she receives means she is doing an excellent job. She gets them boiling with rage.
India always supported Palestine to the extent India did not have diplomatic relations with Israel for almost 50 years since independence. India gave so much support to Palestine cause and always stood behind it in the time of crisis but there seems to be no solution to it. Solution always lies in the middle path which both the parties need to find out.
Today's world order does not run on emotions but national interest. Whenever, India faced a crisis in Kashmir neither Palestine nor any other Arab nation (except Oman) gave support to India, whereas, Israel has been very helpful in the time of crisis. Neither the entire Arab nations together have been able to defeat tiny Israel nor they have been able to accommodate palestinians on their soil, perhaps they all want this crisis to go forever. Some issues like Israel - Palestine, Kashmir and Shia-sunni can never be resolved and it would be better that both the parties live with the status quo.
@all the Indians
You guys are real anti-Muslim trolls. With each comment, you show your true colours. Your ilk on Hindustan Times is much more prejudiced and drenched in hate, and like you loves to see Muslims being killed, but I suspect your conparative restraint has got more to do with ETs moderation.
By your warped logic, whereby you are trying to take Seema to task for not talking about Kashmiri Pundits, you guys should never mention any problems of another society without mentioning in the same breath the uncountable ills of Indian society, from grinding poverty, rapes and murders to corruption, communalism and rebel movements, just to mention a few.
Just to dispel any notion that Ms. Mustafa speaks for the majority of Indian’s. ………….
Israeli action in Gaza against Islamic Terrorist Hamas rocket attacks is fully justified self-defence. Israel’s action is also fully justified on grounds that Jews are the original inhabitants of that part of the world with a presence predating that of Muslim interlopers who Hamas claims to represent and thus Israel has all rights to retaliate against who seek to intimidate them into leaving ancestral Jewish Lands.
Indeed let me say that Ms. Mustafa’s claims regards Indian views of Israeli actions in Gaza is a minority one that is restricted to those who view matters through communal green lenses of Muslim religion and some politicians seeking to play Muslim communal religious vote bank appeasement politics.
Robust support for Israel’s actions continues to remain widespread among the non-communal in India.
Meanwhile I have yet to see any of the claimed boycott of Israeli products mentioned by Ms. Mustafa. Neither have I heard of demonstrations against Israel beyond a violent few from the group’s earlier described. Needless to say any shop that boycotts Israeli products will be boycotted by me and I will be delighted to demonstrate in support of Israeli actions in Gaza when the need arises. Ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel like Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu & Kashmir by Muslim interlopers cannot be permitted.
India has now business in this conflict. They should remain neutral. Opposition parties have no issue so making storm out of non-issue.
I expect my Indian counter-parts to be a little smarter, and not let national interest fog facts. Hamas did not "start it" --- Zionism did. The Israeli state policy to occupy, barricade, blockade, imprison, kill and torture did. The settlements did. If today Pakistan invades India, takes over a large chunk of land and subjects its population to anything similar to what the Palestinians have to go through, I think some of you Indians would want to fight back --- but then we'd label you terrorists like Hamas and use it as an excuse to gain more land (this is hypothetical of course). So, please, don't forget that it didn't start with the Hamas rockets --- in fact the Hamas rockets are a reaction to extreme human rights abuses, war crimes and genocide by the IDF.
@globalobserver: once a paid hack, always a paid hack!
Seema, as usual you are wrong again. Jews belonged to Israel and vice versa. But then, who could teach you the truth?
How come Ms. Mustafa doesn't write about the brutality and oppression by the Chinese against Uighur Muslims, Pakistani oppression of the Baloch, and Kashmir genocide of Pandits?
Israel is at fault because it was the first to hit back.
Since this is a Pakistani newspaper you are writing this OpEd, any concern for the carpet bombing that is going on in NWA? I did not think so.
`Hamas has behavioral issues and they reap what they sow. India should stay out of this mess and only worry about Indians as we have our own problems to solve. When will juvenile congress people learn why they lost the election. Israelis or Palestenians will not any way care what India says.
India has to support Palestine. Enough is enough, they need help as soon as possible.
The concern shown by the author is genuine as far as killing of innocent children and Palestinian is concerned.But let us also take into consideration who started it all.She has not written a single world about the HAMAS,a militant organization,which believes in violence and is against the accords previously signed by moderate faction like PLO/ Fatah.India has to take into consideration her national interests and friendly relation with both Israel and Palestine.Besides deafening silence from Islamic countries like Pakistan and OIC is baffling.The congress whom author is praising for it's disruption of proceedings in both houses of parliament is nothing but making a desperate attempt to regain some lost ground.grounds. Author quoting Gandhi ji in to days context when much water has flown past the bridge is irrelevant as thousands of Kashmir pundits have been thrown out from the Kashmir and living as refugee.
It is reassuring to take note of a little humanitarianism emanating from India and Pakistan. There is certainly nothing of the sort coming out of Tel Aviv. I could use many words to describe the Israeli mind set, but I think excessive brutality, vindictiveness and revenge says it all.
Mustafa O Mustafa, How about shedding a few tears for the Kashmiri Pandits; Kashmir belongs to them as much as Palestine belongs to the Arabs, or it doesn't? Ever thought about that? Any words on that in your next oped?
This author lives in a different India than the one I live in.
The Indian government needs to take action per its own larger interests which are with Israel. Neither Israel nor Hamas are going to listen to Indian government any way. The Muslims of India are more than welcome to boycott Israelis goods which won't have much impact on Israel since major Israeli interests are in agriculture and defense which would be business as usual.Moreover, Mr. Gandhi also talked about "Ahimsa" or non violence but I don't think there are any takers of it in either Israel or in Palestine.
Gandhi should have also said that Kashmir belongs to the kashmiris in the same breath
Congress supports Palestinian because it also supports second partition of india for India Muslims if any demand arises.