NEW DELHI, 1 September 2003 — Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath urged India yesterday to use its warming relationship with Israel to push forward the US-backed peace road map when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visits next week.
“At a time when the peace process is in jeopardy, I hope India will also utilize the opportunity to push (it) forward,” Shaath told reporters at the end of a three-day visit to New Delhi.
He said India should try to persuade Sharon to bring down Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory and stop the construction of Israel’s controversial security fence.
Sharon is expected in New Delhi on Sept. 9 in the first visit by an Israeli premier to India.
Shaath said his visit just days ahead of Sharon’s served to give Indian leaders a “full picture of what is going on the Middle East.” “I view it (the visit) as mainly a sign of India’s commitment to the Palestinian cause,” said Shaath, who met with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other senior officials.
“Indian government leaders probably want to hear from us before they meet Sharon,” he said.
India recognized Israel soon after its creation in 1948 but maintained close ties with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and did not establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state until 1992 amid the then-flourishing Middle East peace process.
Bilateral ties have steadily warmed since then, with particularly close cooperation in the defense sector.
At his news conference, Shaath said the Palestinian Authority saw no alternative to the road map. “Our resolve to return to peace is still there. Our commitment to end all killings and to have a real cease-fire is there,” Shaath said.
He said the road map took nine months to draft and it would take as much time if a new initiative were to be launched.
Shaath said the Palestinians had no illusions that they could defeat Israel militarily just as the Israelis had learned that they could not defeat the Palestinians militarily.
