Ties tested over time; India's stand at UN good: Adil Shaban Hasan Sadeq

NEW DELHI: Palestine's ambassador to India Adil Shaban Hasan Sadeq declared that he was 'optimistic' about India's response to his country's role during the ongoing conflict with Israel, despite the Indian Parliament's failure to press for a resolution condemning the bombings in Gaza.

"It is purely the business of the Indian Parliament whether they pass the resolution or not, but we were heartened by the fact that the Indian government voted in our favour at the UN Human Rights Commission," Sadeq said during an interaction in Delhi.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had said in Parliament that both Israel and Palestine were 'friends' which made it difficult for the government to condemn the Gaza attacks.

"We respect the historic relationship between India and Palestine, and it's a political heritage," he said, adding, "For us, the relationship is not just a question of regime change."

Swaraj had in the past headed the India-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group, and confessed her admiration for former Israeli PM Golda Meir. "As a minister, however, she has been fair to us and has acted in accordance with the government's policies," Sadeq said. "We don't look at the BJP as a homogenous entity, there are people in the BJP who are sympathetic to our cause," he added.

The ambassador also pointed out that India's ties with Israel had flourished during the UPA rule as well, and recalled a meeting with UPA's external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, where a similar condemnation of an atrocity against Palestine had been watered down.

Sadeq even reminded Khurshid of his father Khurshid Alam Khan's tenure as external affairs minister. "I told him, do remember your father and that he served under someone like Indira Gandhi and how she supported us," he said.

Sadeq separated the cause of the Palestinian people and the national government of Palestine from the Hamas. "The Hamas is part of a bigger organisation called the Muslim Brotherhood and wants to create a political space for them," he said. "We (the national government) are against this, and we feel Palestinians must adopt our own programme," he added.

As far as the ceasefire negotiations were concerned, Sadeq said that it involved issues like easing of curfews and check points, as opposed to the larger peace process.