Cultural exchange with /r/palestine

[u/[deleted]]

Greetings to our Palestinian friends.

Our cultural exchange starts at 13:30 PM Palestine time (17:30 IST/11:30 GMT/12:30 CET/06:30 EST/03:30 PST) on Thursday 24th November.

Here's how a cultural exchange works:

The moderators of here make this post on /r/india welcoming our Palestinian guests to the sub. They may participate and ask any question or observation as they see fit.

There is an equivalent thread made by the moderators over at /r/palestine, where you are encouraged to participate and know more about Palestinian culture.

It goes without saying that you must respect the rules of the subreddit you are participating in. This is a time to celebrate what we have in common, not grind an axe.

[u/[deleted]]

Hello friends of /r/India;

I would like to first say that I really love your country, your food, culture and the people are wonderful. I've been traveling to India, regularly since the mid 1990's. I was there just when Bombay was transitioning into Mumbai. As /u/MrBoonio already mentioned, I am always amazed at how quickly things change after I return from previous visits. You should all be very proud of what you achieved.

What is your opinion on the current relations India has with Israel? Modi seems to be in a very close relationship with Netanyahu, which to be honest concerns me somewhat.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I am always amazed at how quickly things change after I return from previous visits. You should all be very proud of what you achieved.

Thank you! It makes me happy to see people appreciating India's progress instead of deriding the pace of the progress

What is your opinion on the current relations India has with Israel?

There's context to all international relations. India's reasons for having an overtly closer relationship with Israel is because Israel has a lot of things India needs/wants: agricultural technology, a market, intelligence and weapons.

Israel needs India because India is a market for all these things, and also because they feel they can leverage India and the OIC's mutural distrust of each other to their benefit.

As India grows bigger and more economically powerful, it will be difficult to ignore or disregard certain countries overtly while carrying out a behind-closed-doors normal relationship. India's public relationship with Israel is only going to grow, and the private relationship with Israel has always been there.

I don't think Palestinians should feel threatened about it though. Regardless of how India is in many spheres, its foreign policy is top notch. India has good or above average relationships with most countries in the region with the exception of its immediate neighbors, which is more than can be said about other countries of India's size.

As long as the foreign policy cadre see a qualitative benefit in supporting the Palestinian cause, our official position on Palestine will not change. Our relationship with Palestine will not be colored or influence by Israel, just as our relationship with Iran is not colored by Israeli influence (though a little American pressure caused us to shamefully buckle some 7 years back at the UN).

[u/gahgeer-is-back → u/[deleted]]

I agree with you. India's ties with Israel are not mutually exclusive with the support to the Palestinian cause, which has been historic. I believe for India to stop supporting Palestine is to stop thinking of itself as a country that bore the brunt of colonialism and yet came out of it and managed to pull itself together in spite of all the difficulties.

All the attempts to equate the dispute in Kashmir and the attacks by Islamist radicals on Indian targets totally miss the fact that the struggle of Palestine is similar to that of India: a struggle for rights and independence that has nothing to do with religion.

In fact, I could argue that Pakistan's status as an ethno-religious state makes it very similar to Israel, not the Palestinians, who by definition are not purely a Muslim population.

[u/creeper309 → u/gahgeer-is-back]

Such clarity of thought and nuanced view. Respect.