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Thursday, Nov 29, 2007
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India welcomes Abbas-Olmert understanding

Special Correspondent

India was ready to play its “due role” in strengthening the forces of peace and stability in the region

NEW DELHI: India has welcomed the understanding reached by the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, to launch negotiations towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, side by side with Israel.

“India applauds the joint understanding reached between the President of Palestine, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Ehud Olmert, in Annapolis to launch vigorous, on-going and continuing bilateral negotiations over the coming weeks and months to arrive at a negotiated solution of the core issues that will lead to the establishment of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state, living side by side in mutual peace and prosperity with the state of Israel,” said Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, who is representing India at the Annapolis conference.

In a statement delivered at the U.S.-hosted West Asia Summit at Annapolis in Maryland in the U.S. and released here on Wednesday, he said, “We pay rich tributes to the courage, wisdom, and statesmanship displayed by the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships to take risks in the cause of a just and lasting peace between the two peoples, who though divided by many complex and emotive issues are nevertheless joined by common geography and history.”

Noting that west Asia was part of India’s extended neighbourhood, with which it had close interaction over millennia and pointing out that both the sides had declared that they needed continuing encouragement and support from the international community, he said India was ready to play its “due role” in strengthening the forces of peace and stability in the region.

He also noted that the President and the Secretary of State of the United States had made a signal contribution to facilitate the agreement and welcomed the U.S. agreeing to assist in monitoring and judging the fulfilment of the commitments undertaken by the Israeli and the Palestinian leaderships.

“It has been repeatedly emphasised in the Joint Understanding that the negotiations will be bilateral between the parties. This is as it should be. However, at the specific request by the parties, the United States has agreed to assist them in the monitoring and judging the fulfilment of the commitments undertaken by both sides of the road map. This should reassure the parties and help in creating an atmosphere of confidence.”

None, Mr. Sibal said, realised better than the two parties themselves how difficult the road ahead would be. Even with the best of intentions, it will require unprecedented determination, goodwill and capacity to offer and accept compromises and concessions, on both sides, if the objective of the understanding was to be achieved.

He also pointed that India noted, with satisfaction, that the Middle East peace process would address the unfinished agenda on the Lebanon and Syria tracks. The Arab Peace Initiative, re-launched in Saudi Arabia in March, provided a constructive framework for achieving such a comprehensive peace.

“India’s support to the Palestinian cause can be traced to the days of the freedom struggle. This support has not wavered. We recognised the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people in 1975 and were one of the first countries to recognise the state of Palestine in 1988. [Likewise] India recognised the state of Israel soon after its creation. With the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1992, we have developed close and friendly relations with Israel.”

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