INDO ISRAEL RELATIONS AND ITS IMPACT IN ASIA

The Israel President recent visit to India was one of the  high point of Indian foreign policy to discuss various issues of mutual interest. The president  said India and Israel could work more towards ‘Make in India and Make with India’ together which can bring “magic to the world”. 

The President further said he fell in love with the word ‘Jugaad’ . He said “jugaad  real meaning is the way we invent , the way we work”.It is no wonder , this friendship between India and Israel  is  strong and already amazing . In diplomatic word , every thing can not be said openly , one need to read line between the lines

The Israeli President said together we can do even more to make in India and Make with India. We can make  future of our next generation bright and e can bring magic to the world,” .Though we always  been concerned about our national security but India taught us  that even greater challenge in today’s world is  drinking water and food security also.

The President also shared details about his visit to Karnal , Haryana a Centre of Excellence for vegetables which has been set up with the assistance of Israel.Where Indian experts and Israeli experts place solar panels on the roof of trucks so that solar energy will keep the food inside the truck fresh and prevent food waste , that was a revolution. They are doing magic together.  Rivlin said Israeli companies will bring their experience and technology to India for mutual benifits .

History and growth of Indo - Israel relationship :---

The India and Israel bilateral relations  are of immense importance today, close to their national strategic interests. Though there were no progress in relation between the two countries between 1948 to 1992 because of domestic ( dirty vote politics ), regional and international compulsions and other developments  which strained  Arab-Israel relations .In fact at that time no countries wanted to take enmity with Arab world then controlling the OPEC , to ensure supply of crude oil .

 However in  a surprise move in 1992, full-fledged diplomatic relations were established between the Republic of India and the State of Israel. This transformation of Indian Foreign policy on State of Israel by establishing  diplomatic relation was one of the cornerstone in the Indian diplomacy .Now Israel has become one of the strongest friend and allies of India  in international arena .

India got immensely benefited with this relationship specially through technical collaboration in Defence sector equipment's , space and missiles technology , drip irrigation e.t.c. But it took almost 50 yeats to mature  Luke warm  relation in to a strong relation of today . Earlier many countries were scared of relationships with Israel . This process of evolution has been the subject of intense debate ,conspiracy's and controversies.

As history speaks ,initially our leaders were staunch supporte of the Arabs .India's attitude towards the Jewish  was very very cautious dictated by its domestic compulsions &  political environment. Gandhijee  was then wooing Indian Muslims for the sake of Hindu-Muslim unity, on the other hand Nehru had a negative feelings about Zionist movement, which he considered as imperialism. 

Indian leaders were worried about the sentiments of the Muslim populations and they were of the opinion  that consent of the Arab inhabitants was necessary for creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.  Indian National Congress was unwilling to endorse the Jew demands for a separate state. India believed that the proposal to make out the State of Israel by partitioning Palestine was a move originated  by the Western powers to fulfill their interests in the region . 

As a member of the United Nation Special Committee on Palestine , in 1947, India proposed a minority plan which proposed establishment of a federal Palestine with internal autonomy for the Jewish population. But UN General Assembly voted for the majority plan, which partitioned Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. India rallied with Arab and Islamic countries which opposed the partition of Palestine.

State of Israel coming into being in 1948, and after two years  India formally recognised the State of Israel on 17 Sep 1950. It took India about two years of follow-ups  and deliberations before arriving at the decision of recognition. Some important factors that attributed to the delayed decision making are,  sentiments of Muslim minority in India, secondly, India did not want to offend the Arabs & lose their valuable support in Kashmir dispute and thirdly, India wanted to maintain its ethical stand  and as founder of non aligned group. The friendly relations with the Arab states and their likely reaction to such a move was given considerable deliberations before taking the decision.

Though the State of Israel was recognized in 1950, full diplomatic relations were established only in 1992. The mid period of forty two years saw India took a cautious approach of granting  recognition to Israel .This was necessitated due to India's support to Palestinian cause.

The 'no so called full relationship' period was also a witness lot of regional and international events which prevented any meaningful interaction between India and Israel such as the Suez crisis of 1956 and the  war of 1973 which demonstrated the military might of Israel over the Arab nations . This made India to believe in strong relationship with Israel.

But India had to handle very ticklish situation and need to take cautious balancing act between Arabs & Israel as establishment of Israeli settlements in Palestine territories and making Palestinians refugees in their own land further aggravated India's relation with Israel.

India had no option other than to woo  the Arab world to ensure its oil supplies from Arab countries and also counter Pakistan's influence in the Arab world.Friendly relations with the Arab world also helped India to build its foreign exchange reserves which flowed in from thousands of Indians working in  Gulf.

To day  India-Israel  cooperation is in high swing mode , in the fields of fighting terrorism to high tech fields which are immensely beneficial for both the countries. It would therefore be prudent for India to ensure optimum utilization of the opportunities that the strategic relations with Israel and US would offer to India. To day Israel has got the finest technology in the world in many areas and India is and can be benefited out of this.

Let us hope this positive swing in Indo- Israel relationship  shall continue for betterment of both the countries.