India on Wednesday reached out to the top leadership of the Palestine and reaffirmed its strong commitment to the Palestinian cause.
External affairs minister S.M. Krishna, who arrived here on Wednesday from Jerusalem held meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in what is the first visit by an Indian foreign minister in over a decade.
He also met his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Malki.
Official sources said the Palestinian leadership expressed great appreciation for India’s support to them especially in getting full membership at the Unesco, in 2011.
The two sides also discussed various issues of common interest as well as regional matters.
The sources also said, that the two sides also discussed how to deepen the cooperation through other mechanisms.
Mr Krishna also had lunch meeting with President Abbas.
Earlier, Mr Krishna drove down to Ramallah from Jerusalem through the Beitunya check-point. At the check point, the minister and his team had to shift to the vehicles with Palestinian number plates leaving behind Israeli cars.
Incidentally, India was the first non-Arab country to recognise the statehood of Palestine in 1988 when it was declared.
The minister’s visit comes close on the heels of Jordan playing host to Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on January 3, the first in more than a year.
Even though India has supported Palestine on a number of international forums, its friendship with Israel has also flourished.
“Our relationship with country does not affect our ties with the others. We have stated position on international issues,” a diplomatic source said.
After spending a substantial part of the day in West Bank, Mr Krishna drove back to Amman and left for Dubai.
In Dubai, the external affairs minister will hold talks with his UAE counterpart and then fly back to India on Thursday afternoon. — PTI