Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
sports meets hosted by India became regular and in 1983 Israel was explicitly
excluded from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the supreme sport body of
the continent.
9
Prelude to Normalization
The arrival of Indira's son, Rajiv, in 1984 signaled a new trend in the Indo-
Israeli relations. The ideological rhetoric of the past had no attraction for the
young leader who sought to carry forward the country into the next century as a
modern and technologically developed country. Abandoning the socialist
traditions of the Congress Party, he initiated a policy of economic liberalization
and adopted a somewhat non-ideological approach to foreign policy. His desire
for freshness and a departure from the past also influenced India's Israel policy.
Moreover, Rajiv was also helped by a changed international climate favoring
Israel. Until the outbreak of the Palestinian
intifada
in 1987, the 1980s witnessed
a positive and less hostile trend toward Israel. Various countries of the
Communist bloc had rekindled their ties with Israel suspended following the
June 1967 war and this was followed by some Third World countries
reexamining their position
vis-à-vis
Israel.
Despite its peace with Israel, Egypt was gradually readmitted into the Arab
and Islamic blocs. Casting aside ideological underpinnings, both the Soviet
Union and China have established regular but low-level contacts with Israel.
Curiously, India's warming up with Israel coincided with the thaws between
Israel and the Soviet Union.
These developments had a positive impact upon Rajiv Gandhi's Israel policy.
During his five-year tenure, he initiated some small but significant moves toward
normalization of relations with Israel. Unlike some of his immediate
predecessors, he openly met with Israeli officials and pro-Israeli circles in the
US. Without making any categorical statement on the thorny issue of
normalization, he signaled a shift in India's perception of Israel. In some ways,
his incremental measures toward Israel became an integral part of his policy
vis-
à-vis
Washington. Among others, he restored a full consul in Bombay; extended
the consular jurisdiction to the southern state of Kerala; relaxed visa procedures
for Israeli passport holders; and abandoned the erstwhile ban on sports contacts
with Israel by hosting the Davis Cup tennis event in 1987.
10
However, certain factors worked against Rajiv Gandhi in seeking a complete
normalization of relations with Israel. The outbreak of the
intifada
significantly
eroded the gains that Israel made in early 1980s. Even traditional Israeli
strongholds in the US found it difficult to endorse the Israeli response to the
Palestinian uprising. Under this circumstance normalization became an
unthinkable preposition. Rajiv Gandhi also faced a host of problems in the
