Thursday, May 15, 2003
Thursday, May 15, 2003 |
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By Amit Baruah
Given the "sensitivity" of this kind of diplomatic contact at the level of Prime Minister, the sources were reluctant to give exact dates for the visit, but said it was likely to take place soon. A recent address by the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, to the annual dinner of the American Jewish Committee in Washington on May 8 appears to have been a "curtain-raiser" for the Sharon visit. "We hope to receive Prime Minister Ariel Sharon soon in India on an official visit," Mr. Mishra said in the address, pointing out that the "constraints" of the Cold War prevented India from extending the requisite "cordiality" to Israel. When contacted, a source in the Israeli Embassy refused to confirm or deny whether Mr. Sharon would be visiting India soon. The source, however, said that an invitation to the Israeli leader to visit India had been extended some time ago. Since the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries on January 29, 1992, there has been an incremental increase in contacts at the official level — with the Israeli President visiting India in January 1997. A range of contacts in the defence and security fields has opened up between the two countries, but there has been no visit by any Indian Prime Minister to Israel either. The "Palestinian" cause has ceased to be "fashionable" though lip service is regularly paid by the Government to the issue. Defence, security and intelligence cooperation with Israel appears to be a clear winner when pitted against the "old virtues" of "self-determination". There has been some talk of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, visiting Syria, but that hasn't taken place yet. The Syria visit, perhaps, is intended to "counter-balance" a trip to India by Mr. Sharon. In his May 8 Washington speech, Mr. Mishra said: "India, the United States and Israel have some fundamental similarities. We are all democracies, sharing a common vision of pluralism, tolerance and equal opportunity. Stronger India-US relations and India-Israel relations have a natural logic".
In the summer of 2000, the then External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, and the Home Minister, L.K. Advani, visited Israel. Mr. Mishra, too, has visited Israel as has the then West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu. The then Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, came to India twice — in August 2000 and January 2001. A quantum leap in Indo-Israeli relations can be expected from the Ariel Sharon visit.
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