PM Modi made no mention of Palestinian rights in his first statement: Sonia Gandhi

Expressing deep concern over Israel’s unrelenting attacks on Gaza, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday strongly condemned India’s abstention on the United Nations General Assembly Resolution calling for an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities” between Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza.

In a strongly worded opinion piece published in a national daily, Gandhi said that the reiteration of India’s historic position on Palestine came only after Israel began its assault on Gaza. The Prime Minister had made no mention of Palestinian rights in the initial statement expressing complete solidarity with Israel, she asserted.

There can be no peace without justice, said the Congress Parliamentary party chairperson, adding that peace will come only if the world, is led by countries that can influence policies and events, can restart the process of restoring the two-state vision and make it a reality.

“Israel’s unremitting blockade for over a decade and a half has reduced Gaza to an “open-air prison” for its two million inhabitants packed into dense cities and refugee camps. In Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israeli settlers backed by the Israeli state have continued to push out Palestinians from their own land in a seeming effort to destroy the vision of a two-state solution,” she wrote.

Underlining the position of the Congress party, she said that INC has been consistent over the years in its strong belief that both the Palestinians and Israelis have the right to live in peace. “Contrary to some mischievous suggestions, the position of the Indian National Congress has been long-standing and principled: it is to support direct negotiations for a sovereign independent, viable and secure state of Palestine coexisting in peace with Israel. This is also the stand taken by the Ministry of External Affairs on October 12, 2023,” she pointed out.

“We value our friendship with the people of Israel. But this does not mean that we erase from our memories, the painful history of forced dispossession of the Palestinians from what was their homeland for centuries, and of years of suppression of their basic right to a life of dignity and self-respect,” she stressed.

Calling for peace, she noted that it is unfortunate that many influential countries are being wholly partisan when they should be trying their utmost to end the war. “The loudest and most powerful voices should be for a cessation of military activity. Otherwise, this cycle will continue and make it difficult for anyone in the region to live in peace for a long time to come,” said the leader.

Gandhi pointed out that many Israelis, having lost friends and family in the terror attacks, still believe that a dialogue with the Palestinians is the only way forward.

“There are voices on both sides speaking for an end to this madness. Many Palestinians acknowledge that violence will only lead to more suffering and take them further away from their dream of a life of self-respect, equality and dignity,” she said.

Congress strongly believes that violence has no place in a decent world, and the party has unequivocally condemned Hamas’s attacks on October 7, 2023, on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, she said.

“This tragedy is, however, being compounded by the Israeli military’s indiscriminate operations in and around Gaza that have led to thousands of deaths, including large numbers of innocent children, women and men. The power of the Israeli state is now focused on exacting revenge from a population that is largely as helpless as it is blameless. The destructive might of one of the world’s most potent military arsenals is being unleashed upon children, women and men who have no part in the Hamas assault; they, instead, for the most part, has been at the heart of decades of discrimination and suffering,” she wrote.

Elaborating on the aftermath of the war, she said that, entire families have been wiped out and neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. “Medical facilities are unable to cope with the vast humanitarian crisis that has befallen the population. The denial of water, food and electricity is no less than the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, she said.

Humanity is on trial now, said the Congress leader. “The prospects for the future are ominous. Senior Israeli officials have spoken of destroying and depopulating large parts of Gaza. The Israeli Defence Minister has referred to Palestinians as “human animals”. This dehumanising language is shocking coming from the descendants of those who themselves were the victims of the Holocaust,” said Gandhi.

The Israeli government is making a grievous error in equating the actions of Hamas with the Palestinian people, she noted. “We were collectively diminished by the brutal attacks on Israel. We are now all diminished by Israel’s disproportionate and equally brutal response. How many more lives will have to be taken before our collect