India–Palestine Relations

India’s relationship with Palestinian institutions combines recognition, diplomatic engagement, international advocacy, and assistance for public institutions and development projects.[1] Its support has included recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), recognition of the State of Palestine, backing for Palestinian participation in international organizations, and grants to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).[1] The relationship also encompasses high-level visits, technical training, school construction, medical facilities, and support for Palestinian refugees through UNRWA.[1]

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj summarized the policy during her January 2016 visit to Ramallah as three commitments: “solidarity with the Palestinian people; support to the Palestinian cause; and support to Palestine’s nation-building and capacity-building efforts”.[1] Her formulation brought political support and practical institution-building together within the same diplomatic framework.[1] In 2014, she had also stated that there was “no change” in India’s strong support for the Palestinian cause while it maintained good relations with Israel.[1]

The relationship is not defined solely by India’s position on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict: it also includes direct contacts with Palestinian leaders and assistance to Palestinian institutions.[1] Nevertheless, India’s developing relationship with Israel forms an important context for its Palestinian diplomacy, particularly in debates over its United Nations votes, responses to Gaza conflicts, and treatment of the two relationships as separate diplomatic tracks.[1][3] During his 2018 visit to Ramallah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described support for the Palestinian issue as a “fixed element” of Indian foreign policy and expressed pride in helping Palestinians build state institutions and support their budget and projects.[4]

Indian nationalist support for Arab rights in Palestine extended back to the 1920s, before Indian independence.[5] Domestic political considerations included efforts to maintain Hindu–Muslim unity and the presence of a large Muslim population in British India.[5] Indian Muslim sympathy for Palestinian Arabs constituted an important connection between the two societies, and British officials monitored Indian reactions because they feared that their Palestine policy might be perceived by Indian Muslims as pro-Zionist.[6] Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other Muslim leaders marked “Palestine Day” and issued statements supporting Palestinian Arabs.[6]

British India and Mandate Palestine shared a British imperial context, but their administrative circumstances differed.[6] The India Office administered India, whereas the Colonial Office governed Palestine; Palestine was a mandate rather than technically a colony.[6] Indian Muslim support for Palestinian Arabs and Gandhi’s influence were important links between the two settings.[6] Gandhi expressed his position in the statement, “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.”[5]

An essay in the Jewish Review of Books portrays Gandhi as consistently supporting the Palestinian cause while sympathizing with persecuted Jews but opposing a Jewish state.[7] It recounts that, in a public statement issued ten days after Kristallnacht, he called imposing Jews on Palestinian Arabs “wrong and inhuman” and recommended nonviolent resistance as an alternative to Zionism.[7] The same essay describes a confrontation at the March 1947 Asian Relations Conference in India, to which Moshe Shertok sent a Zionist delegation.[7]

In that essay’s account, Indian Muslims boycotted the conference, and Nehru denied the delegation’s philosopher Hugo Bergmann an opportunity to answer criticism of Zionism from an Arab League observer and an Egyptian delegate.[7] The delegates walked out and were subsequently welcomed back; Nehru apologized to Bergmann but retained his position that Palestine was “essentially an Arab country.”[7]

India’s first major institutional engagement with Palestine’s political future came through the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, established in April 1947 to investigate communal unrest and recommend political next steps.[8] India was one of its eleven member countries.[8] Together with Iran and Yugoslavia, it supported the minority proposal for a federal state containing Arab and Jewish states, rather than the majority proposal for partition into two states with an economic union.[8] The federal arrangement envisaged autonomy for the Arab and Jewish components within a single Palestinian federation.[9]

India viewed partition as unjust and unviable, while both Arab and Jewish representatives rejected the federal proposal.[5] On November 29, 1947, India voted against the General Assembly’s partition resolution.[10] The recorded result was 33 votes in favor, thirteen against, and ten abstentions.[10] India’s federal proposal thus did not become the basis of the adopted UN plan.[8][10]

The development of India’s relations with Israel also reflected its concern for relations with Arab countries.[11] An analysis published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs attributes the delay in recognizing Israel partly to ideological considerations and a desire to protect Indian interests in the Arab world.[11] It quotes Nehru explaining, “We would have [recognized Israel] long ago, because Israel is a fact. We refrained because of our desire not to offend the sentiments of our friends in the Arab countries.”[11] The analysis dates Indian recognition of Israel to 1950 and full diplomatic relations to January 29, 1992.[11]

The PLO’s emergence in 1964 further distanced India from Israel, while India’s energy dependence on the Middle East and the presence of Indian workers in Gulf states formed part of the context for its pro-Arab policy.[5] In January 1975, India recognized the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” becoming the first non-Arab state to recognize the organization.[1][5] That year, India also co-sponsored the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism.[12]

In March 1980, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi granted full diplomatic status to the PLO mission in Delhi.[5] This marked a further institutional strengthening of the relationship, contrasting with the Israeli consulate in Maharashtra, which had not received comparable status.[5] India subsequently recognized the State of Palestine following its proclamation by the Palestine National Council in 1988.[1] India’s ambassador to Israel later described India as the first non-Arab state to have recognized Palestine.[2]

The Palestinian intifada that began in December 1987, together with Israel’s international isolation, constrained Rajiv Gandhi’s efforts to complete the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Israel.[5] The 1991 Madrid peace process later helped create conditions for normalization by signaling Arab and Palestinian willingness to pursue a political settlement through direct negotiations.[5] Following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao helped repeal the resolution equating Zionism with racism and advanced normalization with Israel in 1992.[12]

India opened a Foreign Ministry Representative Office in Gaza in 1996 and relocated it to Ramallah in 2003.[1] Mahmoud Abbas visited India in May 2005, October 2008, February 2010, and September 2012, with the 2008 and 2012 trips designated state visits.[1] These contacts continued alongside the development of India’s relationship with Israel.[1]

In 2017, Modi hosted Abbas in India before becoming the first sitting Indian prime minister to visit Israel.[13] His three-day Israel visit began on July 4, and he did not meet Palestinian officials during that trip; he had met Abbas in India two months earlier.[13] On February 10, 2018, Modi visited Ramallah, becoming the first Indian prime minister to visit the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[3][4] He assured Abbas that India remained committed to Palestinian interests and hoped for the early realization of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state.[3]

India supported Palestine’s application for full UN membership in September 2011.[1] That year, it also voted for a UNESCO Executive Board decision recommending that the General Conference admit Palestine as a member.[14] The UNESCO decision received forty votes in favor, four against, and fourteen abstentions, forming part of Palestinian efforts to obtain wider recognition through international organizations.[14]

On November 29, 2012, India co-sponsored and voted for General Assembly Resolution 67/19.[1] Adopted by 138 votes to nine, with 41 abstentions, the resolution changed Palestine’s permanent observer status from an entity to a non-member state.[1] Indian ambassador Hardeep Puri called the vote a “milestone” and linked settlement activity to a threat to the premise of a two-state solution.[1] India also regularly supported resolutions addressing Palestinian statehood, self-determination, settlements, and UNRWA.[1]

Under Modi, support for resolutions did not always entail co-sponsorship.[1] India co-sponsored a 2014 resolution on the Palestinian right to self-determination but supported the corresponding 2015 resolution without co-sponsoring it.[1] The 2015 text called for an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and cited an International Court of Justice opinion concerning the separation barrier and Palestinian self-determination.[1] In December 2017, India voted in the General Assembly against the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.[9] India described its Palestine policy as “independent and consistent,” shaped by its own views and interests rather than those of a third country.[9]

India’s responses to Gaza conflicts varied in language and emphasis.[1] In 2004, it condemned the destruction of homes in Rafah and what it called an indiscriminate use of force.[1] During the 2008–09 conflict, India criticized disproportionate force and subsequently condemned the Israeli ground incursion, while also acknowledging rocket attacks against southern Israel.[1] In 2012, its Foreign Ministry urged restraint by both sides and direct talks, while a separate India–Brazil–South Africa statement condemned the violence and called for lifting the Gaza blockade.[1]

During the 2014 Gaza conflict, the Foreign Ministry expressed deep concern about escalating violence and civilian deaths, alarm over rocket attacks against Israel, and a desire for restraint by both sides.[1] This was its sole official ministry reaction during the operation, unlike the multiple ministry statements issued during the 2008–09 conflict.[1] In Parliament, Swaraj affirmed that India would continue supporting the Palestinian cause while maintaining relations with Israel.[1]

In July 2015, India abstained on a UN Human Rights Council resolution concerning the report on the 2014 Gaza war and the International Criminal Court.[1] Its deputy foreign minister explained that the resolution’s direct reference to action by the court was the reason for abstention, since India was not an ICC member.[1] India nevertheless continued supporting other Palestinian-related resolutions.[1]

Financial assistance has included grants, budget support, humanitarian relief, and targeted development funding.[1] By mid-2008, Indian grants to the PNA for development, humanitarian relief, and other projects totaled $27 million.[1] India announced $10 million in budgetary support in 2008, 2010, and 2012, and provided another $5 million in budgetary assistance in October 2015.[1] Additional pledges included $5 million at the 2007 Paris Donor Conference and $10 million during Abbas’s October 2008 visit.[1]

India pledged $4 million for Gaza reconstruction in October 2014 and transferred the funds in January 2015.[1] Its annual contribution to UNRWA increased from $20,000 to $1 million; from 2011, India requested that this contribution fund supplementary food assistance for 76,000 students at UNRWA schools for fifty school days.[1] India also built the Palestine Embassy Chancery and Residence in New Delhi as a gift and offered Palestinian nationals eighty places in technical-training courses in 2015.[1]

Education and technical capacity-building projects included schools in Asera Al-Shamalyeh and Abu Dees, an India–Palestine Center for Excellence in information and communications technology, and a digital learning center at Al Quds University with a satellite center in Ramallah.[1] India supplied equipment and services for technical and vocational education at seven PNA training centers.[1] Medical assistance and projects supported through the India–Brazil–South Africa Fund included work on Gaza medical facilities and a center for people with special needs in Nablus.[1]

During Modi’s 2018 Ramallah visit, India pledged support for additional infrastructure projects in the West Bank.[4] Named projects included a $29 million hospital in Beit Sahour, a $5 million women’s empowerment center, a $5 million printing press in Ramallah, and three schools costing $2.3 million.[4] Abbas also asked Modi to help achieve peace through a multilateral mechanism for negotiations rather than one led solely by the United States.[4] He described his desired settlement as based on the 1967 borders and relevant international resolutions, with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.[4]

Following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, Modi publicly expressed solidarity with Israel.[15] India’s Foreign Ministry explicitly characterized the Hamas attack as a terrorist attack while reiterating support for a “sovereign, independent, and viable state of Palestine.”[16] India also spoke against civilian deaths and reaffirmed its support for a two-state solution.[15]

On October 27, India abstained on a General Assembly call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that did not condemn Hamas.[15] On December 12, however, it voted for Resolution ES-10/22, which demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, compliance with international law and protection of civilians, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages alongside humanitarian access.[17] The resolution passed by 153 votes to ten, with 23 abstentions.[17] India also supported an amendment condemning Hamas, although that amendment did not obtain the required two-thirds majority.[16]

During the Gaza war, India provided humanitarian aid to Gaza, expressed concern about civilian deaths, and called for an end to hostilities through dialogue and diplomacy.[18] It abstained on a November 2023 resolution concerning investigations of Israeli practices and operations in the Palestinian territories and on an April 2024 Human Rights Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel.[18] India supported a General Assembly draft resolution favoring Palestine’s admission as a full UN member, but abstained on a September 2024 resolution calling for Israel to end its occupation within a year.[18]

In Parliament in 2024, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar reaffirmed support for a sovereign Palestinian state and said that Indian assistance and support for Palestinians had increased under Modi.[18] During his February 2026 visit to Israel, Modi said India supported efforts to promote peace in Gaza and would continue dialogue and cooperation with countries in the region.[19]

India’s early recognition of the PLO and subsequent recognition of the State of Palestine gave the relationship a diplomatic foundation that preceded its establishment of full relations with Israel.[1][5] The continued operation of its representative office, repeated exchanges with Palestinian leaders, and assistance to public institutions demonstrate the relationship’s practical dimensions beyond votes and statements.[1] India remained among the countries recognizing the State of Palestine in September 2025.[20]

The combination of political recognition and institution-building is reflected in assistance to schools, vocational centers, information technology facilities, medical services, and the Palestinian budget.[1] Modi’s 2018 visit paired a renewed commitment to Palestinian statehood with funding for infrastructure, while Abbas’s request for Indian involvement in peace efforts gave the visit an additional diplomatic dimension.[3][4] Indian support for Palestinian participation in international organizations has likewise included both membership initiatives and observer-state status.[1][14]

Closer ties with Israel have coexisted with continuing Indian statements supporting Palestinian statehood.[13][18] The separation of Modi’s 2017 Israel visit from his 2018 Ramallah visit exemplified a diplomatic practice in which engagement with one side did not require a simultaneous visit to the other.[3][13] India’s responses after October 2023 similarly combined condemnation of Hamas terrorism and solidarity with Israel with humanitarian assistance, concern for Palestinian civilians, and support for a Palestinian state.[16][18]

The principal debate concerns whether changes in Indian language, visits, and voting behavior represent a fundamental policy shift or an adjustment within continuing support for Palestinian statehood.[1][9] India’s official explanation for its July 2015 Human Rights Council abstention emphasized the ICC reference, while other accounts treated the vote as evidence of a broader change in relations with Israel.[1][13] These interpretations concern the meaning of the abstention rather than whether it occurred.[1][13]

In 2017, Modi supported an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel but omitted a reference to East Jerusalem as its capital, language that had appeared prominently in Indian statements for nearly a decade.[9] This change has been interpreted as a policy shift, although India also opposed the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital that December.[9] A 2026 assessment similarly recorded that some analysts considered India’s deepening relationship with Israel potentially costly to its Palestinian relationship and viewed its response to the October 2023 attacks as continuing an existing shift.[21]

The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs characterizes India’s approach as combining recognition of Israel with support for the Palestinian cause, describing both “equidistance from Israel and Palestine” and a “palpably greater affinity for Israel.”[11] Such formulations are analytical characterizations, distinct from the Indian government’s own statements of continued support for Palestinian statehood and independent decision-making.[9][11]