New Delhi: Days after Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at Munich Security Conference called for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine and warned the former should have been mindful of 'civilian killings', the Palestinian Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Alhaija said, "We welcome such statements from the Indian side and I feel that the attitude of India has changed."
Taking exclusively to ETV Bharat, the Palestinian Ambassador said, "It is the second time that they (EAM Jaishankar and FM of Palestine Dr Riyad al-Maliki) meet within a month. And I think, this is very important that the Indian side is engaging with the Palestinian side. But the most important thing is the statement from Mr Jaishankar regarding the importance of two-state solution, humanitarian corridor for and the killings of the civilian people."
"We are really happy to hear such statements from the Indian side and we'll continue to cooperate with the international organisations and India which is a very important country to put pressure on Israel to stop the genocide in Palestine," added Alhaija.
He further said, "The government of Israel yesterday took a decision that they are not going to allow a Palestinian state to be existed. The world should know that who are against the two-state solution and who are keen to destroy the very idea of a viable two state solution."
On being asked to comment on whether NSA Ajit Doval and other top officials are in active engagement with him, he replied "I don't want to take names but yes we have been meeting and engaging with each other. And I think that the attitude of India has changed from the last meeting we had and that was about nearly four months ago. Earlier, India abstained at the UNGA from the resolution calling for a peaceful truce but yesterday's speech by Dr Jaishankar is welcoming."
During an interactive session at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar underlined that an increasing number of countries are now not only supporting the two-state solution to the Palestine issue but seeing it as "more urgent" than before. The minister described the October 7 attacks on Israeli cities by Hamas as "terrorism". At the same time, he said Israel has an international obligation to observe humanitarian law.
