New Delhi, Jan 18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit the Palestinian capital Ramallah on February 10. He will be the first Indian prime minister to visit Palestine ever. His visit will be just a few weeks after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India. Netanyahu is in India currently on an official visit.
Prime Minister Modi visited Israel last year, which was also the first visit by an Indian prime minister. India and Palestine had been discussing the prospects of a visit, but this is the first time the date has been confirmed. The timing of the announcement is interesting as Netanyahu is still in India. With this, India might reaffirm its position regarding the Palestine issue. India might want to dispel the notion that there was any shift in its policy on Palestine.
TOI reported Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Ramallah aboard a helicopter from Amman in Jordan. Ramallah is the de-facto capital of Palestine and is situated close to Jerusalem.
There was a belief in Palestinian intelligentsia that India was drifting away from its policies on Palestine when Prime Minister Modi visited Israel but skipped its estranged neighbour.
India had voted against Israel in the United Nations to denounce the United States move announcing Jerusalem as its capital. With this visit, India will send out a message to Palestine that it was not getting close to Israel at the cost of its relations with Palestine.