(Hindustan Times-India) Editorial - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make an historic state visit to Israel later this year. No serving Indian prime minister has ever visited Israel. There are also increasing signals that Modi's visit will not include a stopover in the Palestinian Authority. Such a decision would fit in with Modi's general attitude that Indian foreign policy should reflect the rising global profile of India, adhere strictly to the national interest, and be less concerned about ideological and symbolic actions. There is an additional problem: the original secular Palestinian nationalism is increasingly being supplanted by an Islamic identity that New Delhi finds unpalatable. Israel is now one of the three largest suppliers of weapons to India and a major source of assistance in the country's counterterrorism programs. Modi's visit will hopefully bring diplomacy into alignment with political reality, introducing policy changes that should have been carried out many years ago.
2017-03-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive