India\'s Israel Policy - P. R. Kumaraswamy

prelude to normalization 237

between Indian and Israeli diplomats in Washington. In the second week
of January 1992, the se nior Israeli diplomat Yoseph Hadass met India’s
Deputy Chief of Mission Lalit Mansingh.^49 This meeting in the Indian
embassy was a precursor to normalization. The fi nal confi rmation came
when Rao hosted Yasser Arafat in the third week of that month. Arafat’s
public statement that India could pursue a policy that served its national
interests was interpreted as a sign that the Palestinians were coming to
terms with the inevitable. But the traditionalists felt that India was snub-
bing the Palestinian leader. In their assessment, on December 18, a few
days after the UN vote, the Palestinian leader had sought an audience with
the Indian prime minister to register his “protest” over the Zionism vote.

The President of the State of Palestine, who, in earlier times, visited

this country more frequently than any other world leader, was in for

a surprise this time. His visit kept getting postponed on fl imsy

pretexts— that the Prime Minister was preoccupied with two foreign

dignitaries and with the preparations for the Republic Day [which

falls on January 26].... What was more ironical probably was that

while Arafat was having a diffi cult time in meeting the Indian Prime

Minister, hectic eff orts were on to facilitate the meeting of Indian

and Israeli diplomats in the US....

Finally, New Delhi took the initiative and gave a date which was

not so suitable for the PLO leader as he was tied down by the out-

going [sic] West Asia peace negotiations. But still he had to make it in

view of the far- reaching developments. The reception accorded to the

visiting Palestinian dignitary was lackluster at the worst and make

belief [sic] warm at best.^50

In short, it was easier for them to admit and recognize Arafat’s “busy
schedule,” but the same reason by the Indian prime minister was dis-
missed as an “excuse.” However, in his elliptical way, Narasimha Rao set
the stage for a radical departure from the past. Professing to continue on
the path set by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and others, in Janu-
ary 1992 he irreversibly altered India’s Israel policy.