Apart from domestic considerations, India was worried over the rap-
idly changing po liti cal landscape of the Middle East. The defeat of Nasser
in the June war robbed India of the ideological basis for its Middle East
policy. Marginalization of the icon of Arab nationalism forced it to look
for alternative powers with whom it could forge closer ties and redefi ne
its policy. These considerations led Indian leaders to con ve niently side-
step their commitments to secularism and jump on the conservative
bandwagon. The al- Aqsa issue soon went to the UN Security Council. At
that time, India was not a member of the council, but Pakistan was. This
led to India seeking and securing an invitation to participate in the coun-
cil deliberations. Its delegate argued:
With its fi rm belief in secularism, [India] had felt especially grieved
at the desecration of a place of worship, and numerous and religious
leaders of many faiths had expressed their profound shock. Never-
theless, it must not be believed that the question before the Council
was a religious issue. Any attempt to create such a division would do
incalculable harm and present fresh diffi culties in solving the West
Asian problem. India considered that the incident was a direct conse-
quence of the illegal occupation by Israel of Jerusalem and other
Arab areas. Israel thus could not be absolved of its responsibility for
the incident of 21 August 1969.^46As with many other incidents involving the Arab- Israeli confl ict, the In-
dian leadership, especially the Congress Party, sought to give a secular
spin to the al- Aqsa incident.
The countries of the Middle East, for whom the matter was serious,
saw it through a simpler religious lens. An initial Egyptian suggestion
for an Arab summit to discuss the issue was overruled in favor of a larger
Islamic gathering. For the conservative monarchs of the region, the al-
Aqsa incident presented a unique opportunity to formally marginalize
Nasser and his secular brand of Arab nationalism. If his humiliating de-
feat in 1967 was a setback to his fi rebrand radical socialism, the al- Aqsa
incident provided an opportunity to formalize the demise of Nasserism.
Capitalizing on pop u lar anger over the incident, King Faisal of Saudi
Arabia joined hands with King Hassan of Morocco to call for an Islamic
conference to discuss the al- Aqsa fi re. This eventually led to the forma-
tion of the Or ga ni za tion of the Islamic Conference (OIC).^47 A two- day
preparatory meeting comprising representatives from the Arab world
the years of hardened hostility, 1964–1984 211