A Just Peace for Palestine was the title of a recently-concluded conference at the India International Centre in New Delhi, India. At a time when India is gripped by manifold internal problems – the threat from the Maoists, rising tensions in Kashmir and the fiasco over the Commonwealth games – it seems rather surprising to host a conference on Palestine. Externally too for many analysts there are far more pressing issues – a resurgent China's attempts to encircle India, war of words and tensions with Pakistan. So why Palestine?
The justification can be found in the fact that it was not an ad hoc decision but an event in the larger on going process of a campaign begun in India for the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel to force it to comply with international law and bring about an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories, the oppression of Palestinian people and the establishment of a viable contiguous Palestinian state in West Asia. This is a campaign that has been kicked off by some academics and intellectuals only, but it is hoped that it will grow rapidly in the near future. There is also the hope that the government of India can be pressured to cease its growing strategic and defence ties with Israel. India is Israel's number one arms buyer, something that helps keeps the Isreali economy afloat. The attacks by Israeli forces on the Gaza flotilla carrying international aid to the besieged people in the strip in international waters further lent a sense of urgency to the conference.
Thus came together prominent academics, political leaders and activists from different parts of the world for a two-day conference in New Delhi on 'A Just Peace for Palestine'. The conference was jointly organised by the Committee for Solidarity with Palestine, the Palestine BDS National Committee, the Centre for Policy Analysis, the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation, Focus on the Global South and other like-minded organisations. The leitmotif of all the speakers was that if a just peace because of Israeli intransigency continues to elude the region for much longer, all chances of a two-state solution would be buried, leading to a one-state demand which would dilute Isreal's Jewish character – something unacceptable to Israel. In fact some participants, such as Isreali academic Ilan Pappe, felt that a bi-national one-state solution was a more equitable solution than a two-state one due to the small size of the territory in question.
The first day of the conference had speakers such as Jamal Zahalka, an Arab Member of the Israeli Knesset; Ilan Pappe; former UN General Assembly president Father Miguel Brockmann; and UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Prof Richard Falk, who debated the genesis of the Palestinian crisis and focused on the situation of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Father Brockmann urged the international community to pressure Israel to comply with international law and end the occupation, while Falk called on India to play a greater role and raise its voice in the international community even as the country's geo-political significance increased. Professor Ijaz Ahmed said that only a just resolution of the Palestinian issue could bring lasting peace to the region and outlined India's gradual shift away from unwavering support to Palestinians to close military cooperation with Israel.