The Lebanese an-Nahar publication addressed the burgeoning alliance between Israel and India in an article by Sahar Baasiri. The author wrote that she sees the recent visit of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to India is the latest of signs that the Arab world needs to ?reconsider their state of affairs and alliances?? Bemoaning the Arab loss of India?s traditional sympathies, particularly ?since the Hindu nationalists came to power in India in 1998,? Baasiri wrote that Israel and India have been developing an ?alliance against terrorism.? Israel, according to the an-Nahar article, has pushed the idea on a willing India that the two countries face the same threat ?and the same terrorism whether it comes from the Palestinians or Pakistanis.?
However, a common foe is not the only reason cited by Baasiri for the Indian turn away from the Arab world and toward Israel. According to the an-Nahar columnist, the Arabs turned their backs on India and sided increasingly with Pakistan, with some Arab states sharing Pakistan?s desire for an ?Islamic bomb.? Baasiri concludes that ?[t]he undeniable result is that the Arabs lost India as an ally and did not share in Pakistan?s gains. So now we have India consolidating its alliance with Israel under the banner of America?s war on terror, and Peres declaring in New Delhi that the two countries see eye to eye on the issue of terror. As for the Arabs, whose condition is not much better than Pakistan?s, they barely know where to look.?
On the other hand, the WAFA Palestinian Authority news agency prominently reported that PLO leader Yasser Arafat received, on January 5th, a letter of support from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. According to the news agency, the letter ?reiterates [Vajpayee?s] and India's full support to the Palestinian People, their Leadership and their Just cause.? Indian representatives visited the PLO leader in Ramallah, WAFA reported, where they presented the letter and received a briefing on the latest developments in the region. Arafat reportedly ?discussed with them the internationally exerted efforts to revive the peace process.?
However, a common foe is not the only reason cited by Baasiri for the Indian turn away from the Arab world and toward Israel. According to the an-Nahar columnist, the Arabs turned their backs on India and sided increasingly with Pakistan, with some Arab states sharing Pakistan?s desire for an ?Islamic bomb.? Baasiri concludes that ?[t]he undeniable result is that the Arabs lost India as an ally and did not share in Pakistan?s gains. So now we have India consolidating its alliance with Israel under the banner of America?s war on terror, and Peres declaring in New Delhi that the two countries see eye to eye on the issue of terror. As for the Arabs, whose condition is not much better than Pakistan?s, they barely know where to look.?
On the other hand, the WAFA Palestinian Authority news agency prominently reported that PLO leader Yasser Arafat received, on January 5th, a letter of support from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. According to the news agency, the letter ?reiterates [Vajpayee?s] and India's full support to the Palestinian People, their Leadership and their Just cause.? Indian representatives visited the PLO leader in Ramallah, WAFA reported, where they presented the letter and received a briefing on the latest developments in the region. Arafat reportedly ?discussed with them the internationally exerted efforts to revive the peace process.?