‘India must end defence ties with Israel'

AP Protesters hold placards as they participate in a protest against Israel in Bangalore. File photo

Leading Palestinians have called upon India to end its defence ties with Israel. Israel is not only selling India arms being used against Palestinians, but also off-loading big-ticket military hardware which did not work during its aggression on Lebanon, say noted Israeli scholar Ilan Pappe and Jamal Zahalka, an Arab member of the Knesset.

“India should end its defence ties with Israel because it is buying equipment that failed during Israel's aggression on Lebanon. The tanks were vulnerable and the anti-missile system was caught napping when the Hezbollah hit them. The war was actually the failure of Israeli weapons,” said Mr. Zahalka, who was here along with Professor Pappe to attend a conference on Palestine.

They regretted the perception that India's policy on Israel was not in sync with the wishes of people and acknowledged the waning enthusiasm among Arab governments for the Palestinian cause.

Turning point

“The world is not made of governments but societies. All over the world, citizens were appalled by the attack on the Gaza flotilla. In a funny sort of way, this incident caused a change in world opinion. It exposed Israel for who and what they are. I agree, the Arab world is not doing anything. It is also true that there is an unbridgeable gap between civil society depicting Israel as a rogue state and governments the world over like India maintaining good strategic economic relationship with Israel,” pointed out Prof. Pappe.

Asked about the talks now on between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the two activists drew attention to the absence of Hamas at the negotiating table, which reduced the chances of an acceptable settlement. Mr. Zahalka was critical of the PNA and felt its role had been reduced to a “sub-contractor to Israel.”

Double standards

“Not inviting Hamas smacks of double standards. Israel has massacred people but no one questions its participation in the talks. But Hamas, which is democratically elected and resists the policy of Israel to strangulate the Palestinians, is not called. This will not contribute to the chances of peace. It is up to the Palestinians to decide who will represent them at talks,” said Prof. Pappe. He was of the opinion that there was American pressure to come for the talks because the PNA was totally dependent on international aid, especially from Europe and the United States.

Delaying tactics

Asked if the talks would succeed, the Knesset member said the likelihood was remote because Israel was talking to the Palestinian Authority under the impression that it had been defeated and the terms of surrender were being worked out. “The political school to which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu belongs views this as conflict management. The talks are delaying tactics and are the essence of his political culture. We are very disappointed he finds [U.S. President Barack] Obama a willing partner,” he said. 

   Important Link

A tribute to Indian soldiers on Haifa Day

    NDTV Correspondent, Updated: September 26, 2010 13:15 IST

                                  New Delhi:  A moving ceremony to remember some 900 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in liberating the Israeli port city Haifa during World War I was held for the first time at the Haifa Cemetery on September 22. (Read: Battle of Haifa - 23 Sep 1918)

This is the first time such a ceremony was held to commemorate the memory of fallen Indian soldiers.

The event was marked by a wreath laying ceremony by Ambassador of India to Israel, H E Navtej Sarna and other dignitaries. Speaking at the ceremony, Sarna underlined the important role played by the Indian soldiers during World War I and the valour shown by them in this theatre of operations.

A large number of Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives in this region during the war and nearly 900 are cremated or buried in cemeteries across Israel.

Every year on September 23, the Indian Army commemorates "Haifa Day" on which two brave Indian cavalry regiments helped liberate the city in 1918 following dashing cavalry action by the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade.

In the autumn of 1918, the Brigade was a part of the Allied Forces sweeping northwards through Palestine in the last great cavalry campaign in history.

During the battle for Haifa in September 1918, the Indian troops exhibited exemplary cavalry skills and bravery in a successful cavalry charge which finally culminated in the liberation of Haifa.

Captain Bahadur Aman Singh Jodha and Dafadar Jor Singh were awarded the Indian Order of Merit (IOM) and Captain Anop Singh and 2 Lt Sagat Singh were awarded the Military Cross (MC) as recognition for their bravery in this battle.

Major Thakur Dalpat Singh MC is known in the annals of history as the Hero of Haifa for his critical role in the battle for Haifa.

The action of the Indian troops has been vividly recorded in the Official History of the War- Military operation Egypt and Palestine (volume 2): "No more remarkable cavalry action of its scale was fought in the whole course of the campaign. Machine gun bullets over and over again failed to stop the galloping horses even though many of them succumbed afterwards to their injuries". This remains the only known incident in military history when a fortified town was captured by cavalry on the gallop.

A two-member Indian Army delegation led by Col. M.S. Jodha, grandson of Captain Aman Singh Bahadur, had especially come here to attend the ceremony.
         Important Link

India, Israel And The Defence Taboo

By S. Samuel C. Rajiv

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar, and CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat as well as many international participants at a conference on the Palestinian issue in New Delhi have urged India to reconsider its robust defence relationship with Israel. Their reasons, according to press reports, have ranged from the contention that a strong relationship with Israel deviates from the Nehruvian foreign policy of un-stinted support to the Palestinians, to the charge that India is buying weapons that are being used against the Palestinians or buying weapons which have failed to perform to expectations. An Arab member of the Knesset who made the latter contention was probably referring to the Hezbollah missile strike on the Israeli warship INS Hanit which killed four sailors during the 2006 Lebanon war. This warship was equipped with the Barak-I anti-missile defence system but reports note that the system was not in an active mode as an attack by a surface-to-sea C-802 missile was not expected. The Barak system and the Phalcon AWACS are among the $8 billion worth of equipment that India has bought from Israel in the past decade.
India’s defence ties with Israel went on an upswing in the aftermath of the Kargil conflict, when Israel supplied ammunition as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Israel’s ability to leverage its capabilities in such niche technology areas like UAVs and surveillance systems have enabled it to meet India’s growing defence requirements. The weapons systems that India obtained from Israel were in part procured due to lack of indigenous development efforts. India’s efforts to develop an AWACS capability, for instance, suffered a setback in 1999 when an Avro aircraft on which a similar capability was being tested crashed.

The transfer of these high-end technologies was also enabled by the support of the United States which invests heavily in the Israeli defence industry. Similar technologies like the Phalcon AWACS were earlier denied to China on account of American pressure despite a contract being signed to that effect. Successive Israeli governments for their part have cultivated political and defence ties with rising regional powerhouses like India and Turkey assiduously. The latter relationship is however currently in the doldrums due to the Israeli military action on a Turkish ‘aid’ ship in May 2010 which resulted in the death of eight Turkish nationals.

Israel has also been heavily involved in the modernisation of the Indian armed forces’ Soviet-era inventory, including the upgrading of over 100 MiG-21 fighter jets at a cost of over $600 million. Facing the rising sceptre of terrorism with support from across the border, India was in the market to equip its special forces with the appropriate state-of-the-art inventory like better quality rifles and night vision equipment, among others. Proven Israeli strengths in these fields as well as in providing security solutions have been utilised not just by New Delhi for the CWG 2010 but also by cities like Beijing which hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. Israeli defence industry strengths and Indian requirements coupled with the necessary political will therefore allowed for the strong growth in India-Israel defence ties during the past decade.

India’s defence needs are only set to grow. India has one of the biggest procurement budgets in the world, and is expected to purchase equipment worth over $100 billion over the next decade. As and when India’s indigenous capabilities in such areas like AWACS or UAVs develop, dependence on foreign suppliers, including Israel, can be expected to reduce. Given that the Israelis do not produce major platforms like fighter jets or submarines, their share in the Indian defence pie can be expected to fall in the face of American (or Russian or French) suppliers. Even if Indian capabilities come up to speed in areas where there are deficiencies, it is also a fact that it is not economically viable or strategically prudent to build each and every weapon system in a country’s defence inventory indigenously.

No country is a hermetically sealed entity in contemporary world politics. In an increasingly globalised world, not just interests but threats are also shared. If India and Israel share similar interests in combating the forces of extremism and terrorism, the Mumbai carnage tellingly showed that both countries and their citizenry are also potentially facing the same threats. A country’s foreign policy should optimally be geared towards facing these threats effectively as well as maximising opportunities for cooperation.

India’s humanitarian and political support for the Palestinian cause continues and should be further strengthened. New Delhi should continue to convey to the parties involved to hasten the process of establishment of a Palestinian state and smoothen roadblocks that exist. Cutting off defence ties with Israel will not in any way be the ‘magic’ bullet that will lead to the resolution of the intractable conflict. India has strong historical, political and cultural links with both sides of the conflict. Anyone who has walked the streets of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or Hebron or Bethlehem (as this writer has) will vouch for the enormous amount of goodwill that is expressed towards India by people representing both sides of the divide. India should aim to maximise this goodwill rather than seek to constrict cooperation with one of the sides.

As it is, the policy of boycotts or sanctions have little purchase in eliciting changes in domestic or foreign policy behaviour of nation states, especially so in West Asia. Iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussein or present day Iran are pertinent examples. Both Tel Aviv and New Delhi should also aim to inform public opinion regarding their ongoing defence cooperation, rather than seek to perpetuate the ‘defence taboo’.
        Important Link

Solidarity caravan from India to Gaza planned in December

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Asian People's Solidarity for Palestine (APSP) Tuesday said that 500 civil resisters from 17 Asian countries will join a caravan from India and march through 18 cities of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey 'to break the siege of Gaza' through the sea route in December.
The team plans to be in Gaza Dec 27 which will mark the second anniversary of Israel's launch of the Gaza War in 2008, said APSP, an alliance of peoples' organisations, social movements, trade unions and civil society institutions of Asia.
'Palestine is emerging as a central geo-political issue and we resist the ethnic cleansing of Palestine...In view of Israel's ongoing collective punishment of Palestinians through illegal occupation and siege of Gaza, we started this movement,' secretary of New Trade Union Initiative Gautam Mody told reporters here.
Asia coordination committee's representative Feroze Mithiborwala said: 'Friends of the group in foreign countries are putting together money to buy a ship. We will set sail from a Mediterranean port but for security reasons I cannot reveal the port name. We are doing this to create a larger impact of the struggle.'
T.A. Rahmani of the Muslim Political Council of India said that the solidarity caravan to start from India in December is in support of the Palestine movement.
India Lifeline to Gaza, a branch of APSP, will hold a conference and a flag off programme here Dec 2.
Organisers of Asia to Gaza solidarity caravan said that the movement is multi-cultural and multi-religious and is a non-religious struggle for peace. The movement is endorsed by 51 organisations and 57 individuals.
The caravan will carry relief material for the people of Gaza. It will cross into Pakistan at Wagah border checkpost where members of the Pakistan Solidarity for Gaza will join the caravan to Iran.
Public meetings will be held at various locations in cities and countries through which the caravan will pass, organisers said.
Important link

SEARCH