119Similarly, the Saudi leadership has been seeking intra-Palestinian
reconciliation and the most prominent step in this direction was the Mecca
Accord of February 2007. Responding to internal tension, especially in
the Gaza Strip following the Hamas victory in the January 2006 elections,
King Abdullah invited the leaders of Hamas and Fatah for a meeting in
Islam’s holiest site and this resulted in a four-point agreement of coopera-
tion and national unity. However, shortly afterwards the deal collapsed
with Hamas militarily taking over the Gaza Strip in June that year. This led
to a strange situation of two Palestinian administrations; the internation-
ally-recognized PNA is governing the West Bank while the Hamas is
administering the Gaza Strip. Since then Saudi Arabia has mostly been less
active in the Israeli-Palestinian track.
PalestIne and Indo-saudI RelatIons
For over four decades, India and Saudi Arabia treaded the similar path vis-
à- vis Palestine, albeit with nuanced differences. While the former had rec-
ognized Israel in 1950, the latter reflected the prevailing consensus among
the Islamic countries that the formation of the Jewish State in the land
which is considered a part of the Islamic waqf was an insult and injustice
and hence could not be acceptable. Through its recognition-without-
relations policy, India conveyed that even minimal relations with Israel
would be tantamount to being anti-Palestinian.
The Arab oil embargo instituted during the October War of 1973
underscores the benefits of India’s pro-Arab position regarding the
Palestinians. The oil crisis and supply disruptions compelled many West
European countries and Japan to revisit and radically alter their position
on the Arab-Israeli conflict in favour of the Palestinians. The economic
compulsions of price rise led to Palestinian statelessness receiving a favour-
able treatment in the Western governments and societies. The Arab coun-
tries also temporarily overcame their power struggle and politicking and
rallied behind the PLO and the Rabat Arab summit held in October 1974
recognized the PLO as ‘sole and legitimate’ representative of the
Palestinian people and set the stage for the admission of the PLO as an
‘observer’ of the UN the following month.
Though the oil crisis and price rise were an enormous economic hard-
ship, India was less hassled over the Palestinian issue as it has taken a pro-
Arab position since the early 1920s. The admission of the PLO into the UN
saw India moving closer towards the PLO and formal agreements to this
PALESTINE FACTOR