so, and the Arabs must not be crushed and suppressed in their own
homelands.”^27 He frequently reiterated this as late as April 1947, at the
New Delhi Asian Relations Conference.^28 This eventually became In-
dia’s policy after in de pen dence.
Like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru’s views are also problematic. Speaking
in Allahabad in 1936, he ruled out Palestine being a religious issue.^29
Both the Arabs and Jews invoked religious injunctions to buttress their
respective claims and positions. The resolutions and pronouncements of
various Indian leaders clearly testify to this and, in 1922, the Congress
Party itself declared that Jazirat al- Arab should remain under Islamic con-
trol. Second, despite his prolonged exposure to Western education and
culture, Nehru was unable to understand or appreciate the Jewish yearn-
ing for a national home. He was not ready to comprehend their national-
ist aspirations and their desire to be a free nation. He was primarily pre-
occupied not with the Jewish national aspirations but their attempts to
achieve this with the help of the British. Without ever repudiating Jewish
nationalist aspirations, he confi ned his attention to their “collaboration”
with the imperial power.
Moreover, while endorsing Jewish rights in Palestine, Nehru was un-
able to defi ne them. Were the Jews entitled to any po liti cal rights? If so,
what were the limits? He reiterated the Arab character of Palestine with-
out ever clarifying Jewish rights. As refl ected by the Indian Plan at the
UN Committee, he was not prepared to grant any po liti cal rights to the
Jews but merely settled for civic and religious rights. Above all, Nehru
looked at the prevailing international situation through an anticolonial
lens. Writing to the Zionist emissary Immanuel Olsvanger in September
1936, he remarked: “I cannot tolerate this imperialism in India or Pales-
tine and the question I ask everyone is whether he stands for this imperi-
alism or against it.”^30 His predisposition toward the Arabs made him
view Zionism not as a genuine national liberation struggle but merely as
a collaborator with British imperial designs in the Middle East and else-
where. The close ties that the Zionists forged with Great Britain were a
result of the harsh po liti cal realities of the time. The ability of the Zion-
ists to seek a national home for Jews scattered to the four corners of the
world depended entirely upon their success in securing the support and
backing of a great power. Nehru was not prepared to appreciate the Zion-
ist predicament.
However, on the central issue of the Holocaust and Jewish suff ering,
Nehru was more forthcoming and helpful. On this front, the track record
the congress party and the yishuv 49