Missed an opportunity, Palestine Foreign Minister writes to Jaishankar

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 2

Palestine has expressed disappointment over India’s abstention from a UN Human Rights Council vote that called for a probe into the violence in Gaza.  

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki has written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressing concern over the position taken by India at a special session of the UNHRC.

India “missed an opportunity to join the international community at this turning point” and its abstention “stifles the important work of HRC at advancing human rights for all peoples, including those of the Palestinian people”, wrote Malki.

India’s abstention did not eventually matter as the resolution was passed with 24 countries voting in favor and nine against.

At that time, Israel was dispatching medical aid in response to India’s urgent requirements during the peak of the second Covid wave.  

The Palestinians felt disappointed over the Indian stand as they felt the resolution was the product of extensive multilateral consultations.

“It is the consolidation of years of thorough investigations into and reporting on Israel’s grave violations by states, UN experts, human rights treaty bodies and international organisations, without accountability measures,” explained Malki.

India has quadrupled the aid to Palestine and strongly advocates the need for a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state. At the same time, it has maintained that improving ties with Israel does not mean abandoning Palestine.

India had shipped free vaccines as late as March 30 to Ramallah despite an emerging crunch at home.

The Palestinian Foreign Minister also asked Jaishankar to prioritise the “root causes of the injustice that befell the Palestinian people, the decade-long dispossession, displacement, colonisation, oppression of the Palestinian people and the denial and violation of their every human rights by Israel, the occupying power”.

Otherwise, “the situation will not only remain volatile but will continue deteriorating with far-reaching and grave repercussion”.

Other countries that had abstained along with India included Bahamas, Brazil, Denmark, Fiji, France, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Togo, and Ukraine.