India today conveyed to the Arab League that its policy on the Palestinian cause remains “unchanged” and that its support to the people of Palestine will be “undiluted” in the future.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her meeting with Secretary General of League of Arab States Nabil El Araby, said India remains committed to the Palestinian cause.
“We reiterated our support to the Palestinian cause. We said that there is no change in India’s position. The President of India will be visiting Palestine, Israel and Jordan together and our basic support for the Palestinian cause will remain undiluted in the future,” Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs Anil Wadhwa who is accompanying Swaraj here told PTI.
Swaraj is here on the first leg of her two-nation tour of Egypt and Germany.
On July 3, India for the first time abstained from voting on an anti-Israel resolution adopted at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
The resolution had called for accountability by parties involved in last year’s conflict in Gaza.
The resolution on ensuring accountability and justice for “all violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory”, including East Jerusalem was adopted in UNHRC with 41 votes in favour, five abstentions and one vote against it.
India had later said the abstention was on account of a “direct action-oriented reference made in the resolution to the International Criminal Court, of which India is not a member”.
India had abstained from voting along with Ethiopia, Kenya, Macedonia and Paraguay.
The resolution was related to the report of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza war which killed over 2,000 people.
Wadhwa said both leaders also discussed the upcoming meet of the League of Arab states and India in December in Manama.
“It will be a ministerial level meeting. India has proposed December 20 for the meeting in Manama in Bahrain. The date will be confirmed in September,” Wadhwa said.
In the meeting, Swaraj talked about importance of Arab countries to India for energy security as well as people-to-people contact.
She said around seven million Indians live in the region and anything which happens in these countries affects them.
“The Arab League on their part explained current happenings in Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and in Palestine,” said Wadhwa.