President In Jordan – India Wants Good Ties With Israel, Palestine

Trade, and terrorism are the reasons behind President Pranab Mukherjee’s Jordan visit.

President of India, Pranab Mukherjee during inauguration of Mahatma Gandhi Street at Amman in Jordan, 12 October 2015. (Photo: PTI)

President Pranab Mukherjee has just completed a successful three-nation West Asia tour. In his very first visit to the region, Mukherjee visited the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Palestine, and Israel.

Visiting Israel and Palestine was quite obvious. Politics demanded that balancing act which he executed dexterously. But why visit the tiny kingdom of Jordan, which does not figure high on India’s strategical radar, and is not particularly resource-rich? Why not the bigger and strategically more important Egypt?

Sure this year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. But the last high-level visit to Jordan from India was that of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1988, while King Abdullah and Queen Rania visited India in 2006.

What Explains Pranab’s Visit to Jordan?

One important reason is trade. While bilateral trade stands only at $2 billion currently, India is Jordan‘s fourth largest trading partner. Efforts are on to increase this to $5 billion by the year 2025.

A number of MoUs were signed. A joint venture – the Jordan-India Fertiliser Company with an investment of $860 million was signed, and there are prospects for more such joint ventures.

Almost 10,000 Indians work and live in Jordan. How important bilateral ties are for Jordan can be gauged by the fact that recently the country significantly eased its visa policy for Indians.

Decoding President’s Jordan Visit

• Apart from Israel and Palestine, Jordan also figures as a sojourn during President Pranab Mukherjee’s West Asia tour
• Trade brings the two countries together with India being Jordan’s fourth largest trading partner
• Terrorism, a shared concern for both India and Jordan with the advent of the Islamic State
• India requests Jordan to help in the release of Indian workers held hostage by ISIS
• Jordan as a stopover also meant to indicate that India treasures its bonds with both Israel and Palestine

Shared Concern

The second important reason is the shared concern of terrorism. Jordan has been at the direct receiving end of the Islamic State’s brutality when the terror group burnt alive captured Jordanian pilot Mu’ath Kasasbeh.

Jordan is a pluralistic, moderate Arab state in the midst of great turmoil. But it is not immune to external forces as it was found out, when in the wake of the Arab spring, protests had broken out there too.

Hosting a large Palestinian population has meant an omnipresent tension between them and Jordan’s native population. To that has been added waves of refugees from the different regions hit by crisis – earlier from Iraq and more recently from Syria. The Islamic State is now a particular threat since it seeks to overthrow monarchies and establish strict sharia.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) during a ceremonial reception at the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestine, October 12, 2015. (Photo: PTI)

This is a shared concern between both sides. In a written interview to the Jordan Times, President Mukherjee said that India is concerned about the spill-over effects of instability in the West Asia region, resulting in increased terrorist activities across the world. He said, “[...] the reality of [...] globalisation of the supply chain of terrorism is a matter of great concern to India [...] [Which] has faced terrorism for almost four decades [...] India is convinced that terrorism can be rolled back only through comprehensive, coordinated international cooperation [...] India has sought to challenge and reject the terrorist narrative that global counter-terrorism efforts are directed against any particular religion or ethnic group.”

Hence both countries would be looking forward to intelligence sharing and counter-terrorism cooperation. India has also requested Jordanian help for the release of 39 Indian workers kidnapped by the ISIS.

President Pranab Mukherjee during laying wreath at tomb of Theodor Herzl, at Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, in Israel, October 14, 2015. (Photo: PTI)

Israel-Palestine Balance

But the crucial purpose that a visit to Jordan served was maintaining the Israel-Palestine balance. As commentaries and talk shows in the wake of the President’s visit to the region, for many pursuing close relations openly with Israel tantamount to India watering down its traditional support for Palestine. This is something India has not done. It is simply pursuing relations with both sides independent of the other.

President Pranab Mukherjee speaks after receiving honorary doctorate from University of Jordan during a ceremony at Amman in Jordan, October 12, 2015. (Photo: PTI)

And what better place to articulate this position than in the Jordanian capital?

In his address at the University of Jordan, Mukherjee succinctly spelled out India’s policy: “ Like Jordan, India’s traditional support to the Palestinian cause remains steadfast and unwavering while we pursue strong relations with Israel. Our bilateral relations with Israel are independent of our relations with Palestine.”

The message is clear: If Jordan, an Arab and Muslim country, almost half of whose population, including its charming Queen Rania, are of Palestinian descent can pursue strong ties with Israel, while remaining committed to the Palestinian cause, then why should India be denied the same?

Jordan is only one of the two Arab states to have full diplomatic ties with Israel. While Egypt did so in 1979, India refrained from doing so till the Madrid conference.

But surely India cannot be more Arab than the Arabs?

A visit to Jordan was thus politically expedient.

(Aditi Bhaduri is an award-winning journalist and researcher)