NEW DELHI, 21 August 2003 — Weeks before it hosts Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on his first visit to India, New Delhi has invited Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to the country.
Palestine’s Ambassador to India Osama Musa said yesterday Shaath was scheduled to visit the country later this month, and Abbas would follow him to New Delhi within a month. Sharon is expected to be in India during Sept. 9-11, and experts here have said the visit will mark a high point in the diplomatic ties between India and Israel since they were established 11 years ago.
“There is a plan for a visit by the Palestinian foreign minister on Aug. 29, but the exact date will depend on circumstances in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” Musa told IANS.“The situation there is not calm and this could affect his coming to India.”Musa said Prime Minister Abbas was expected to visit India “two to three weeks or less than a month after” Shaath.It will be his first visit to India,” he said.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has broadened India’s relations with Israel, especially in the defense and strategic sec“There is no harm in India inviting Sharon, it is a big country and a big democracy.”But Palestine did expect India to use its influence to urge Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, Musa said.“We would like (India’s) MPs, the government, the students and the ordinary people to ask Sharon just one question: when is he going to end the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip?” he said.
