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After a week of confusion over rules and procedures, the Rajya Sabha on Monday discussed the situation in Gaza.
The Government said it has made no changes in the policy towards both Palestine and Israel, and that it wants a good relationship with Israel while supporting the Palestinian cause.
Citing rules, the Government did not relent on the demand by the Opposition for a resolution condemning the violence.
The Opposition, except the Biju Janata Dal and the AIADMK, walked out of the House in protest.
The proceedings of the House were disrupted for almost all of last week over the issue.
Replying to the debate, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the country should send a joint message to the world that it condemns violence from both sides, and urged the two countries to accept Egypt’s offer of peace talks.
“There is no change in this policy in Narendra Modi’s government nor during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s time. NDA (rule) was for five years while Congress for 10 years. Even the coalition governments followed the same policy,” said the Minister, who had earlier objected to a debate on the issue.
She endorsed the efforts of Egypt to bring peace in the area by advocating a ceasefire. She said Israel had accepted the suggestions by Egypt but Hamas was not ready for a ceasefire.
“So what should be done? There should be one joint message that wherever there is violence, it should be condemned. We should tell both the nations to accept Egypt’s offer of talks. The same message should go from this House, the Government and the entire nation,” she said, adding that the Prime Minister was a signatory to the BRICS resolution that condemned the attacks. “Not a single time a statement has come from (previous) Prime Ministers during the BRICS summit,” she said.
Earlier, participating in the debate, Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the view of the Government on the issue. He urged the Centre to handle the issue with a humanitarian approach and warned that escalation of violence will be against the interests of Indians in West Asia.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury demanded that India stop purchasing arms from Israel. Rejecting the demand, Swaraj wondered why the CPI(M) had not demanded such a measure when it was supporting the UPA Government between 2004 and 2008.
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