July 21, 2012: A two-member delegation from Palestine met with various groups in
India to seek solidarity to end their people’s suffering under Israeli occupation.
“We want India to renew its friendship with Palestinians that seems to drift toward
Israel,” said Fr. Jamal Khader, a professor at Bethlehem University. Accompanied by
Amjad Alqasis, an international human rights law expert, the Catholic priest has met
with civil society, Churches and government to explain the Palestinian issue.
They
addressed a July 17-18 consultation in New Delhi organized by the Indian Ecumenical
Solidarity Network for Palestine (ISEN), a network of ecumenical organizations in
India concerned about and involved in working for a just peace. Last week, they also
attended a three-day consultation of Christian theologians at Chennai, that asked
people visiting the Holy Land to include in their itinerary a meeting with Palestinian
Christians to witness their plight. Fr. Khader said at a press conference in New
Delhi that ‘a renewed Palestinian-Indian friendship would help find a just solution
to their problems. He said this against the backdrop of India’s increasing relations
with Israel. “I have learned that Israel is a supplier of arms to India,” the priest
said, adding that the money earned by selling arms would be used to support Israeli
military industry which in turn would increase their occupation of Palestinians.
The
delegates also noted that the occupation of Palestine by the Israelis was accompanied
by brutal measures designed to humiliate and oppress the former. Expressing concern
over the situation of the Palestinians, the ISEN members said that India’s support
to the Israeli regime is “unethical and must end immediately.” They planned a nation-wide
campaign for boycott-disvestments-sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Father Khader
said two percent of the five million Palestinians are Christians, adding that they
have till now visited Europe, United States, South Africa, the Arab countries and
Hong Kong to mobilize public support for the cause.