Picture : ANI / X
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has reiterated the two-state solution to resolve the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and said there are “very serious efforts” underway to bring about a permanent solution to the issue.
However, the Minister declined to elaborate on what those efforts are as he said, he cannot speak about it publically, but said, “We (India) are very, very supportive of the efforts of a few countries who are working right now to find a way out of the present situation.” Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to Singapore, was speaking at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) of the National University of Singapore (NUS).
He was answering questions after a lecture on his book ‘Why Bharat Matters’ when he was asked about his reading of the situation in Israel and Palestine and because India is friendly on both sides, how it visualises the situation in next couple of years and what could be a possible long term solution.
To start with, Jaishankar said, India is very clear that what happened on October 7 (last year) was “terrorism.” “There cannot be any defence of it. There cannot be any caveats to it. I think we need to call that out, which we did, very unambiguously,” he said.
It was on October 7, 2023, that Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israel through land, sea and air routes killing at least 1,200 Israelis and taking hostage another 230. Media reports suggested 30 of them are still held hostage.
The unprecedented attack prompted Israel to launch an all-out attack on Gaza Strip that has killed, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, nearly 32,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children.
