From India to Palestine

In 1948, Israel was created on Palestinian land. Palestinians lost their homes and villages; huge numbers were expelled; they became refugees elsewhere or in their own land. In 1967, the West Bank and Gaza were also occupied by Israel.//For more than five decades now, Palestinians have suffered the violent and unjust realities of occupation. Not only does India have strong historical ties with the Arab world; but also the Indian freedom movement saw the struggle of the Palestinians for a homeland as a genuine struggle against colonialism. Both Gandhi and Nehru expressed this in no uncertain terms; so, later, did the non-aligned movement. Indian policy towards Palestine shifted radically in the 1990s. Israel has now become a major supplier of arms to India; it is also part of the complicated shift in India's relationship with America, and India 's emerging vision of itself in the world.//Fourteen new essays on India and Palestine-Israel by writers, scholars and activists: Aijaz Ahmad | Meena Alexander | Githa Hariharan | Sunaina Maira | Nivedita Menon | Ritu Menon | Sukumar Muralidharan | Seema Mustafa | Aditya Nigam | Prabhat Patnaik | Vijay Prashad | Prabir Purkayastha | A.K. Ramakrishnan | Nayantara Sahgal | Achin Vanaik