India sends medical supplies, disaster relief aid to war-torn Gaza

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• India – Palestine Relation
• Background: India – Palestine Relation
• Important Bilateral Visits and Political Interactions between India and Palestine 
• Developmental Cooperation between India and Palestine
• Bilateral Trade between India and Palestine
• Training and Capacity Building between India and Palestine
• IBSA Cooperation 
• United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
• Culture Relations between India and Palestine
• News Summary: India sends medical supplies, disaster relief aid to war-torn Gaza
• India in a balancing act

Why in news?

• India sent its first humanitarian aid for the beleaguered residents of Gaza via Egypt.
• This was days after PM Modi spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to convey condolences over the loss of civilian lives at the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.

India – Palestine Relation: Background

• Evolution of relationship
  • India’s support for the Palestinian cause is an integral part of the nation’s foreign policy.
  • In 1974, India became the first Non-Arab State to recognize Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
  • In 1988, India became one of the first countries to recognize the Palestinian State.
  • In 1996, India opened its Representative Office in Gaza, which was later shifted to Ramallah in 2003.
• Support at multilateral fora
  • India has always played a proactive role in garnering support for the Palestinian cause in multilateral fora.
  • India has consistently supported, co-sponsored, and voted in favour of UN General Assembly Resolutions:
    • securing the right to self-determination of Palestinians,
    • urging Israel’s compliance with legal obligations, and
    • its status as a non-member State at the UN.
  • In 2011, India also voted in favour of Palestine becoming a full member of UNESCO.

Important Bilateral Visits and Political Interactions

• PM Modi paid a historic visit to Palestine in February 2018, the first for an Indian Prime Minister.
• Late President Yasser Arafat visited India several times. President Mahmoud Abbas visited India in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 and in May 2017 on his third State Visit.

Developmental Cooperation

• India has provided various forms of developmental cooperation assistance to Palestine over the years amounting to approximately US$ 141 million.
• India has also provided a total of US$ 39 million of budgetary support to the Palestinian Authority.
• In July 2021, India offered a Line of Credit worth USD 50 Million to Palestine for implementing developmental and sustainable projects.
• The major development assistance projects executed successfully by India include:
  • Palestine-India Techno-Park
  • Construction of Jawaharlal Nehru Library at Al Azhar University in Gaza city
  • The Mahatma Gandhi Library-cum-Student Activity Centre at the Palestine Technical College at Deir Al Balah in the Gaza Strip, etc.
• Currently, eight developmental projects are in progress, the details of some of which are as follows:
  • Palestinian Institute of Higher Diplomacy in Ramallah;
  • National Printing Press at Ramallah;
  • Construction of Super-specialty hospital in Ramallah;
  • Turathi - Women Empowerment Centres at Ramallah and Gaza; etc.
• Quick Impact Projects (QIPs)
  • In 2021-22 India implemented four Quick Impact Projects:
    • Rehabilitation of Yasser Arafat Square in Ramallah City,
    • Integration of Technology into Education with the Young Scientists Club (Al Muntada),
    • Establishing Beitunia Municipality Nursery, and
    • Construction of Aqraba Children Park.

Bilateral Trade

• Trade between India and Palestine is conducted through Israel and therefore, comprehensive trade statistics are not available.
• India-Palestine annual bilateral trade volume was USD 67.77 million for the year 2020.
  • Indian exports and imports were USD 67.17 million and USD 0.6 million, respectively.
  • India has a share of 0.06% of Palestine’s exports, while India ranks 13th among the importing countries for Palestine with 1.1% share of total Palestine’s imports.

Training and Capacity Building

• ICCR Scholarships - India provides 50 ICCR scholarships for Palestinian students annually for Graduate, Post-Graduate and Ph.D courses in India.
• Indian Technical & Economic Co-operation (ITEC) - 168 slots are offered to Palestine annually under the ITEC for training courses in India aimed at capacity building and skill enhancement.

IBSA Cooperation

• India, Brazil, South Africa (IBSA) Fund has also funded four projects in Palestine worth US$ 5 mn approximately.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

• India supports Palestine and Palestinian refugees through its contributions to UNRWA.
• India is a member of its Advisory Commission since 2020. Since 2002, India has contributed a total of US$ 36.5 million to UNRWA till 2022-23.

Culture Relations

• In 2014, a bust of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled at the Garden of Nations in Ramallah.
• An Indian Cultural Week was also organized by the Mission, in association with ICCR and Palestinian Ministry of Culture in November 2021.

News Summary: India sends medical supplies, disaster relief aid to war-torn Gaza

• India sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.
• An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departed for El-Arish airport in Egypt.
• The material includes essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities, water purification tablets among other necessary items.

India in a balancing act

• In his first phone conversation with Palestinian President Abbas since the Hamas attack on Israel, PM Modi had reiterated India’s long-standing principled position on the Israel-Palestine issue.
  • The phone call to Abbas was perceived as a balancing act.
• Modi’s call to Abbas came days after he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend solidarity.
  • Following his conversation with Netanyahu, Modi had posted: “People of India stand in solidarity with Israel in this difficult hour… India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”.
• Later, Delhi, in its first official statement on the conflict, sought to balance its position.
• For Delhi, the diplomatic challenge was to balance between the many sides in West Asia where India has deep strategic ties with Israel on the one hand, and Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Iran and Egypt – to name a few – on the other hand

Q1) Where is Al Azhar University?

Al-Azhar University is located in Cairo, Egypt, in the Nasr City neighborhood. It's Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and the world's second oldest. Al-Azhar University was founded in 970 or 972 by the Shiʿi Fatimids. It was formally organized by 988. It's associated with the Al-Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo. 

Q2) What is Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)?

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is a political umbrella organization that was founded in 1964. The organization's initial goals were to unite various Arab groups and create a liberated Palestine in Israel. The PLO has since embraced a broader role.

Source: India sends medical supplies, disaster relief aid to war-torn Gaza via Egypt| Representative Office of India in Ramallah | MEA