6.1. The Palestinian Issue

♤ Mandate of Palestine was to be partitioned into Jewish and Arab states under United Nations Resolution 181, approved in November 1947. Jerusalem is put under international control.

♤ The state of Israel was finally created on May 14, 1948, provoking an eight-month war with Arab states.

♤ The war resulted in the West Bank including east Jerusalem going to Jordan and the Gaza Strip to Egypt. Israel ended up occupying more territory than the resolution 181 had visualized.♤ The Oslo Peace process broke down in 1999-2000. This was followed by a violent second intifada and Israeli response to it ♤ The last Israeli forces left Gaza after a 38-year occupation in September 2005.♤ Thus, the Palestinians remain stateless and the territory which is expected to become a future state of Palestine, i.e. West Bank and Gaze Strip remain separated and under Israeli occupation (West Bank) or blockaded (Gaza strip).♤ In 1996, India opened its Representative Office to the Palestine Authority in Gaza, which later was shifted to Ramallah in 2003.♤ At the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 2012 the status of Palestine was upgraded to a ‘non-member state’. India co-sponsored this resolution and voted in favour of it. India supported the Bandung Declaration on Palestine at Asian African Commemorative Conference in April 2015. India supported installation of Palestinian flag at UN premises along with other observer states, like the flags of member states, in September 2015.♤ In 2018, during the PMs visit a total of 50 million US$ was committed by India as assistance to Palestine.