Israel Blocks Pranab Gift To Palestinian Children

In an attempt to marginalise, if not entirely scuttle, the Palestinian leg from Pranab Mukherjee's forthcoming West Asian itinerary, ??Israel has decided to hold back a consignment of computers the Indian President proposes to gift to Palestinian children when he visits the region later this month.

President Mukherjee will be visiting Jordan, Palestine and Israel during a five day visit to West Asia beginning October 10.

The proposed visit is extremely significant as Mukherjee will be the first Indian head of
?state to visit Israel since diplomatic relations between the two sides were mended in the early 1990s. While there is little doubt about the steady rise in Indo-Israeli bilateral ties over the past decades, successive governments in Delhi have also tried to maintain a balance in its traditional ties and support for the Palestinian struggle while improving relations with Tel Aviv.

The Indian President's decision to visit also Jordan and Palestine during his West Asian journey is a clear indication of India's attempt to assure its traditional friends in the Arab world that ties with Israel is not being pursued at their expense.

But a set of 30 computers President Mukherjee wants to gift to Palestinian children at Abu Dees, a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate during his forthcoming visit has run into heavy weather with the Israeli authorities.

Latest report received by South Block suggests, the consignment is still stuck at Haifa port due to "technical" issues with Israeli officials. If the computers, meant for a Computer Centre at Abu Dees that Mukherjee is to inaugurate, are not released on time, it could lead to a major embarrassment for the two sides and may cast a shadow
?over the Indian President's visit.

President Mukherjee is also scheduled to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Al Quds University, which is also in Abu Dees, a town in the Jerusalem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority bordering Jerusalem. Abu Dees has been designated as "Area B" under the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and is under the Joint Israeli-Palestinian control.

Sources say that during meetings to finalise Mukherjee's visit to the region, Israeli officials also tried to dissuade the Indian President from visiting Abu Dees,? arguing that it could lead to "serious security" issues because of the large number of potential Palestinian "stone throwers." But the Indian side argued that since the function is being organised by the Palestinians, there is very little likelihood of violence from Palestinians during President Mukherjee's visit. Moreover, since it was under the joint control of Israel and Palestine, both sides should take effective and adequate security to ensure no untoward incidents take place while the Indian President is there.

As the argument of possible violence did not work with the Indians, the decision to hold back the consignment of computers by the Israelis is being seen as another attempt to convince the President to either give up his visit to Abu Dees altogether or scale down his engagement with the Palestinians significantly.

President Mukherjee's visit to the region is also significant in another aspect because it is also seen as a precursor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in the coming months. His government has already made it clear that Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel to drive home the point that the two countries want to embrace each other in a tighter strategic embrace.

The fact that the Indian Prime Minister visited the United Arab Emirates recently and may also is likely to visit Turkey and possibly Saudi Arabia in the coming days, is part of the diplomatic balance that the Indian leadership maintains with the Islamic world while strengthening its ties with Israel.

It is highly unlikely that President Mukherjee, a widely experienced politician, will deviate from that well-established track.