Visit of External Affairs Minister to Israel (January 17- 18, 2016)

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit Palestine and Israel on January 17-18 to review bilateral relations, it was announced here on Tuesday.

“We attach great importance to this visit”, Carmon said at a media briefing here.

Pesident Pranab Mukherjee had visited Tel Aviv in October past year, becoming the first Indian Head of State to visit the Jewish nation.

After her engagements in Palestine on January 17, Swaraj will go to Israel the same day for a two-day visit, during which she will hold discussions with the Israeli leadership and review the gamut of India-Israel relations that is on an upswing.

“The visit will also reaffirm India’s continued political, diplomatic and developmental support to Palestine”, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup has said.

It was decided that major diplomatic visits to Israel – which Modi is keen to undertake – would be accompanied by trips to Palestine and ideally also Jordan, home to the world’s largest Palestinian refugee population.

“The two sides share firm belief in the values of democracy and free market economy”. Swaraj is scheduled to leave for Ramallah for the first official visit by her to the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority on the morning of January 17.

Numerous region’s countries, which publicly swear by the Palestinian cause, had indicated unhappiness when India abstained from a United Nations vote critical of Israel in July.

“India shares traditionally close relations with the State of Palestine and contributing actively through capacity building and human resource development initiatives with Palestine”, it stated. Palestine and many of its neighbouring countries were unhappy with India’s abstention from the vote and the fact that Modi had on Twitter once called Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a friend”. In 2015 Israeli Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir and Defence Minister Ya’alon came to India.

Meanwhile, the Israeli embassy said that Ms Swaraj “had visited Israel in 2008 as chairperson of the Indo-Israel Parliam-entary Friendship Group”.