The Palestinian Authority has thanked India for the timely supply of “desperately needed” life saving medicines, saying it showed New Delhi’s concern over the humanitarian crisis in Palestinian areas. “We appreciate the continued support of the Government of India and its people for the Palestinian masses and the timely supply of desperately needed life saving medicines, particularly in view of the deteriorating situation in Gaza”, Rafiq Husseini, the chief of President Mahmoud Abbas’ cabinet, said.
“The donation is another example of India’s principled stand for the just cause of the Palestinian people and its concerns over the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories”, Husseini added.
The Representative of India in PA, Zikrur Rahman, handed over the second consignment of medical supplies to Husseini on Thursday evening, fulfilling New Delhi’s promised humanitarian aid of $2.23 million in life saving medicines.
The first consignment was delivered to the PA in August. “The medical aid is an expression of solidarity from the government and people of India towards the friendly Palestinian people”, Rahman said at a ceremony organised to hand over the supplies.
Describing the humanitarian situation in Gaza, UN human rights envoy John Dugard on Tuesday said that life there is “intolerable, appalling and tragic”.
Recent surveys and World Health Organisation statistics have projected a very grave situation in the Strip where hospitals have been constantly seeking medical supplies, unable to attend majority of the patients.
“Life saving drugs are especially in short supply and such a help will certainly come as a big relief”, a spokesman for the PA health ministry told PTI in response to India’s initiative. India had send the first consignment of life saving drugs to PA on August 10.
The second consignment consists of drugs to treat cancer, cardiac problems, shock and depression, parkinsons, skin, bone and internal infections besies medicines for kidney failure.
hey its a good act on india's part to try and help the people who need this help.
I think with India's relatiosnhip with Israel and with Palestinians it can emerge as a peace broker between the two sides, so the much needed but still somewhat of a patch-up relief work that is being done in the region by all is not the only thing but long term solution is also created. I think India is one or one of the few countries trusted by both sides and thus uniquely positioned to make an impact.
and this is a good opportunity to leverage the good relations India has with both sides to help bring about a sustainable solution. More power to them if they can make a change in the status quo for the positive.
Anyways king super power status or not, India has some status and it acts quite well to that standard. The Indian government always tries to do act with responsibility.
Indias not pulling of some extraordinary feat here... They are a developing third world country that has some extra change which they give to the beggers of palestine for whom a grain of salt is like a gift from heaven. Doling out money to the poor isnt considered diplomatic skill...
yes they are… palestine is a muslim terrotory. yet so called “islam in danger” crying countries like paklstan are idle. its secular india who takes the imitiative to help the poor and hunger striken palestines even if india is a quite a good friend of israel. it shows how kind the india is for the poor and needy of the world. tomarrow, when pakistanis need support, india will definately give them the same treatment. after all, pakistanis are our neighbour. don’t they?? eh..?
Let us leave pakistan out of this thread. Why should every thread on India turn out into a India pak conflict. It is a good job that India is doing, as 2 million dollars fetch a large amount of medicines in India. (Equi. to 75 to 100 million in USA).
I agree with Fraudia that India has good relation with Israel and Palestine. The only problem is that we do not have a leader who is well known and respected world wide and whom the countries look up.
the problem is that india has a poor political relationship with israel, and that the general relationship is hardly more than a means of facilitating military hardware purchases is silently acknowledged by both sides. the relationship itself has only existed since 1992, when india established diplomatic relations with israel.
apart from india’s obvious pro-palestine historic stance, in all opportunities india has had in the recent term to develop better relations, it has chosen to fall back on the traditional pro-palestine stance. for example, the were among the first to send diplomats to congratulate hamas’s ismail haniyeh after winning the election, used strongest language apart from iran against the lebanon operation, endorsed anti-israel stance at the havana summit, etc.
i’m not exactly sure how india would go about developing a warm relationship with israel without it being at the cost of its relationship with palestine.
