Indicating at a new strategy of engagement, Palestine on Wednesday said India’s recent display of support has boosted the ongoing political reconciliation in the country.
Speaking to The Hindu, a senior Palestinian diplomat said the speech of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the Non-Alignment ministerial in New York encouraged the Palestinian cause and said his country would seek support from all sections of Indians for protection of the Al Aqsa mosque.
‘Positive contribution’
“The speech that President Mahmoud Abbas delivered at the annual UN General Assembly [UNGA] strongly urged the international community to come forward supporting the Palestinian cause, and the speech of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the ministerial of Non-Alignment movement on the sidelines of the same summit, made a very positive contribution, and boosted our position,” said the senior Palestinian diplomat.
He highlighted that following internal reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas factions, the move for an independent Palestine will gain new momentum.
In her speech delivered at the ministerial of the member countries of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM), Ms. Swaraj had cited India’s traditional support for the rights of the Palestinian people and said, “For independent India, support for the Palestinian cause has been a reference point of its foreign policy.”
Two-state solution
In his speech at the UN delivered on September 20, President Abbas strongly urged the international community to pressure Israel for the implementation of the two-state solution, and pledged to give a chance to the peace plans of the U.S.
He also indicated that Ramallah would begin a new outreach to all parts of India and in this respect a beginning would be made with two India-Palestine friendship societies to be inaugurated soon in Odisha and Punjab.