Did normalization change anything? Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi on India’s 1992 decision on Israel

Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi’s 1938 statement that ‘Palestine belongs to the Arabs’ has not lost its relevance even after India reversed its four-decade-old policy of recognition-without-relations and normalised relations with Israel in January 1992. Critics see growing Indo-Israeli relations as an abandonment of Gandhian values while supporters use the 1938 statement to reiterate India’s continued support for the Palestinians. ‘Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French!’(Gandhi, ‘The Jews’). This November 1938 remark by Mahatma Gandhi has been the most widely quoted statement on India’s foreign policy. It is impossible to identify any writing–Indian or foreign–on India’s approach towards the Jews, Israel, or the broader Middle East without this. Interestingly, Gandhi’s observation can be noticed in prominent writings both before and after India normalised relations with Israel in January 1992. Despite the changed circumstances, the continued flagging of Gandhi to explain India’s policy towards Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict raises an important question: why to cite Gandhi’s pro-Arab statement when Indo-Israeli relations have been blossoming remarkably? Has normalisation changed India’s understanding and approach towards Gandhi’s views?.