Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
12.
Indeed, at one time being a Leftist meant taking an anti-Israeli posture. Reeling
under that influence one scholar described Israel as 'the illegitimate offspring of
retreating imperialism'.
13.
There are suggestions that in 1982 only American pressure prevented the closure of
the Israeli consulate.
14.
The return of a consul to Bombay and the extension of consular jurisdiction to
Kerala were preceded by meetings between Indian leaders and American friends of
Israel.
15.
For example see Foreign Secretary J.N.Dixit's outspoken interview in
The Week,
9
Feb. 1992, p.37.
16.
Within days after the Chinese move, India followed suit. For a discussion on this
linkage see, P.R.Kumaraswamy, 'South Asia and People's Republic of China-
Israel diplomatic relations', in Jonathan Goldstein (ed.),
China and Israel, 1948-
1998: A Fifty Year
Retrospective
(Westport, CO: Praeger 1999) pp.131-52.
17.
On the eve of India's independence Panikkar told the Jewish delegation from
Palestine: '… once Pakistan is established, Hindu leaders and politicians may well
take a pro-Zionist line'. Panikkar quoted in S.H.Bergmann and Yaacov Shimoni,
Report on the Inter-Asia Conference, d.17 April 1947,
Central Zionist Archives,
Jerusalem, S25/7485. On 4 April 1947, Panikkar handed over a confidential note
titled 'A memorandum on Hindu-Zionist relations' to the visiting delegation. For a
discussion on this see, P.R.Kumaraswamy, 'Sardar K.M.Panikkar and India-Israel
Relations',
International Studies
(New Delhi) 32/3 (July 1995) pp.327-37.
18.
Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh's reference to Indian Muslims shaping India's
Israel policy at a lecture in Jerusalem in June 2000 evoked strong criticisms and
rebuke.
19.
Eliahu Elath to Moshe Sharett on his meeting with Nehru d. 14 Oct. 1949,
Documents on the
Foreign Policy of the State of Israel
(Jerusalem: Israel State
Archives) Vol.4, pp.547-8. Declassified Israeli documents frequently mention
Indian diplomats referring to the feelings of the Indian Muslim population as a
factor.
20.
Among other see, Mani Shankar Aiyar,
'Chutzpah', Sunday,
6 June 1993, pp.14-
17. Punyapriya Dasgupta, 'Betrayal of India's Israel policy',
Economic and
Political Weekly
27/1516, 11-18 April 1992, pp.767-72; and Bansidhar Pradhan,
'India's policy toward the PLO', in Riyaz Punjabi and A.K.Pasha (ed.),
India and
the Islamic World
(New Delhi: Radiant 1998) p.73.
21.
According to a former foreign secretary, 'Arjun Singh felt that this decision might
affect Muslim support for the Congress and went on to imply that establishing
relations with Israel would be a departure from the Nehruvian framework of our
foreign policy'. J.N.Dixit,
My
South Block Years: Memoirs of a Foreign Secretary
(New Delhi: UBSPD 1996) p.311.
22.
Congress leader Natwar Singh highlighted this dilemma of the opposition. While
India should maintain good relations with Israel, 'it could not be at the expense of
our relations with Palestine people'.
The Hindu,
22 Oct. 2000.
23.
For example see, Sukumar Muralidharan, 'Peace, and war',
Frontline
(Chennai/
Madras), 10 Nov. 2000, pp.15-18.
24.
K.K.Katyal, 'West Asia crisis tells on foreign policy consensus',
The Hindu,
18
Oct. 2000.
25.
C.Raja Mohan, 'India's West Asian stakes',
The Hindu,
16 Oct. 2000.
