Sana Shayin is a third-year International Relations student at King’s College London, which has continuously exposed her to a vibrant and intellectually stimulating environment. Throughout this degree her interests have been ignited in areas such as diplomacy and human rights advocacy. She is elated to be part of International Relations Today as the Editor for South and Central Asia, and contribute to the academic discourse in the field, given the region’s current and rapidly evolving politics.
Historically, South Asian nations have viewed the Israel-Palestine conflict as a sign of British imperialism. They now strike a compromise between their allegiance to Israel and their sympathy for the Palestinian cause.
The month of October has seen the worst escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent years. On October 7, the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas attacked Israel in a never-before-seen manner. Hundreds of people were killed and several hostages were taken hostage by Hamas militants who invaded Israeli villages close to the Gaza Strip. The most daring attack against Israel perpetrated from Gaza by Hamas is this one. From then until now, violence has only escalated, with to this date over ten thousand Gazan Palestinian casualties, including over four thousand children. Following Hamas’ attacks on civilian settlements close to the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, governments in South Asia recently joined many countries in releasing official statements in response to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. As a result of South Asia’s geographical distance from the conflict, its countries’ varied levels of ties with Israel, and the conflict’s proximity to the politics of the region’s Muslim-majority countries, reactions in the region have been split. Rebecca Zafert, founder of the Israel-Asia Center in Jerusalem, has previously noted the public and corporate sectors in Israel have recently shown a clear acknowledgement of the strategic significance that Asia carries, both politically and economically.
The 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which Britain endorsed creating a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, established the foundation for South Asia’s diplomatic relations with Palestine. Indian nationalists in pre-partition India expressed compassion for the Jewish people but saw the developments as another example of British imperialism that set Jewish nationalists and Arabs against one another and were steadfastly pro-Palestine. Since then, a few South Asian nations have shifted from that stance.
INDIA
India and Palestine have developed close ties over the years. “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French,” wrote Mahatma Gandhi in a 1938 article published in Harijan. “It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs.” Gandhi couldn’t support the division of British Palestine on the grounds of religion and opposed the division of British India on religious grounds. India voted against Israel’s entry to the UN two years later as well as the partition of British Mandate Palestine in 1947. However, since 2000, India and Israel have increased their defence cooperation, and Israel’s defence companies now prioritise exporting to India. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India a few weeks earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Palestine for the first time in 2018, igniting discussion over India’s expanding ties to Israel. India has come across as pro-Israel throughout the current situation, with the hashtag #IndiaStandsWithIsrael trending on Twitter. Some have even said that the ethnonational, anti-Muslim ideologies of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and its collaboration with far-right ultranationalists have brought the two nations closer together.
PAKISTAN
According to Faisal Devji in his book Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea, Pakistan and Israel are the only two states that were founded on the basis of a particular religion.
In the recent crisis, Pakistan prime minister Anwaar Ul Haq Kakar, took a measured approach, fueling speculation that Pakistan could someday normalise ties with Israel. The Pakistani government traditionally opposes Israel, with whom it has no diplomatic ties, and is a strong supporter of Palestinian rights. Pakistan has so far adopted a more moderate stance, in contrast to nations like Indonesia and Malaysia which have publicly blamed the dispute on Israeli policy. Experts see several factors in play. Pakistan is in the midst of an economic crisis and is dependent on an IMF bailout of $3 billion. Islamist organisations in Pakistan are likely advised to maintain a low profile in order to avoid upsetting Western governments at a time when Islamabad desperately needs assistance, according to Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre. The United States and many other Western nations have firmly backed Israel.
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh was first created as a secular state, but in the 1980s Islam was made the official religion. The majority-Muslim nation shares Pakistan’s ardent opposition to Israeli occupation. Thousands of Bangladeshis came to the streets amid worldwide demonstrations for Free Palestine on the 18th of October to protest against the Israeli attacks. Bangladesh, in the past, banned its citizens from travelling to Israel. However, in an unprecedented move, it removed the passport clause which barred its citizens from travelling to Israel. Conflictingly, it is still It is also one of the 28 United Nations member states that doesn’t recognize the state of Israel, although Israel was one of the first nations to recognize independent Bangladesh.
AFGHANISTAN
Nearly no diplomatic ties exist between Afghanistan and Israel. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the acts committed by Israel, and called on the international community
NEPAL
As the first nation from South Asia to establish diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, Nepal stands out significantly. This happened in 1960. Israel opened an embassy in Kathmandu in 1961, during the administration of B.P. Koirala, who had a staunchly pro-Israel posture. With the exception of the nine months that Nepal was governed by a Maoist government, the nation has maintained a staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy and supported Israel globally. Resolution 3379, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1975, equated Zionism with racism and racial discrimination. Although Nepal had initially supported the resolution, it ultimately chose to abstain. (India supported Resolution 3379.)In 1993, Nepal established a consulate in Israel. Despite its long-standing support for Israel, Nepal has expressed a desire for “peace and security” along the Israeli-Palestinian border. Nepal supported the 2017 UN resolution that denounced the actions of then-President Donald Trump in moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
SRI LANKA
Israel-Sri Lanka collaboration was started by the island nation’s first prime minister, D.S. Senanayake. The nationalist stance of the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike administration, which took office in 1956, later turned this around. When his wife, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, became the world’s first female prime minister, relations between the two nations further deteriorated. In order to assist the Palestinian cause, she closed the Israel embassy in 1970. The PLO established an embassy in Colombo in 1975, and as a result, the Sri Lankan government has backed UN resolutions in favour of Palestine. In 1998, Sri Lanka declared Palestine a state.
In order for Sri Lanka to import weapons and military hardware when the government there began battling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E.) in 1977, Junius Richard Jayewardene, the country’s first executive president, repaired relations with Israel. The minority Muslim population in Sri Lanka was alarmed by the rekindled relationships. Israeli diplomatic relations were severed by Ranasinghe Premadasa, Jayewardene’s successor, in 1992.
Israel has provided technology to Sri Lanka in more recent decades, and an embassy there was established in Tel Aviv in 2000. Sri Lanka has been committed to the two state solution since 2018.
THE MALDIVES
Israel and the Maldives forged diplomatic ties in 1965 before cutting them off in 1974. The nation, which has a majority of Muslims, likewise supports Palestine. ‘The government of Maldives once again strongly condemns the ongoing Israeli military aggression against innocent civilians in the Gaza strip’ the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Shahid tweeted. Despite cooperation agreements on tourism, health, and education being inked in 2009, diplomatic relations between Israel and the Maldives were not established as a result of these agreements. The island nation has also boycotted Israeli products in the past when Israeli forced attacked Gaza. The country appointed a non resident ambassador to Palestine in 2021, and have condemned the recent attacks.
A similar theme emerges from the responses from South and South East Asians : the challenge of upholding diplomatic balance in the face of worldwide ideological trends and economic pressures. It is evident that, despite being influenced by a complex web of interrelated variables, the reactions to the Israeli-Palestinian issue also mirror a more general quest for security and harmony in a turbulent global setting. The need for renewing dialogue and negotiation grows more urgent in the face of these difficulties. A concerted effort to stop the loss of innocent lives is imperative, as is the role of the international community in mediating a peaceful resolution. A lasting peace that upholds the rights and ambitions of all parties concerned is still the ultimate objective. The tragedy of the ongoing conflict is intended to serve as a poignant reminder of the urgent need for a coordinated and compassionate approach to conflict resolution—one that highlights the humanity at the heart of these protracted disputes—as the world watches the events play out.