India reaffirms Palestine support at Arab League summit ahead of Israel visit

Prime Minister Modi sat across from delegates representing all 22 Arab League member states in a carefully choreographed moment of diplomatic affirmation. The Palestinian foreign minister, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, was among them. What unfolded was a restatement of India's long commitment to the Palestinian cause—one that has taken concrete form over decades through development aid, humanitarian assistance, and now, through this very public meeting timed with deliberate precision.

India has funneled $170 million into Palestinian development through bilateral channels and international mechanisms like UNRWA. Another $40 million in projects are actively being implemented on the ground. These are not symbolic gestures. They represent sustained engagement with a people and a territory that India has chosen to prioritize within its foreign policy architecture. Modi framed the Arab world as part of India's "extended neighbourhood," bound not by geography alone but by what he called civilisational bonds and shared commitment to peace. The language was warm, almost familial. On social media, he spoke of unlocking new opportunities through cooperation in technology, energy, trade and innovation.

Yet the timing of this meeting carried its own message. It had been planned since the previous year, officials said, but it arrived just weeks before Modi's expected visit to Israel in late February. The sequencing was not accidental. India was making a statement to its Arab partners before crossing into Israeli territory—a reassurance that the relationship would not be diminished by engagement with Tel Aviv. The declaration issued after the meeting called for a sovereign, independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, living in peace alongside Israel. Both sides backed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. These formulations are familiar in international diplomacy, but their reaffirmation here served a purpose: to anchor India's position as a nation that could hold multiple relationships without abandoning principle.

The substance of the discussions ranged across the fractured landscape of West Asia. The Gaza ceasefire that emerged from the 2025 Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit was welcomed, with both sides commending the role of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar. The formation of a Palestinian technocratic committee to administer Gaza was endorsed as a preparatory step toward the second phase of the ceasefire agreement. But the focus extended beyond Gaza. Sudan and Yemen remain in conflict, with implications for maritime security and regional stability. Lebanon, where India has troops deployed with UNIFIL, was flagged as a concern. Syria's trajectory matters. Libya's national dialogue process needs advancement. The region, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar noted, has undergone dramatic transformation in the past year, reshaping the global order itself.

Terrorism emerged as a unifying concern. Both sides embraced zero tolerance, condemning cross-border attacks as violations of fundamental international principles. The Arab League foreign ministers specifically condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam that had targeted tourists, reaffirming support for India in confronting such violence. The declaration called for collective action to dismantle terrorist infrastructure, cut off financing networks, and prevent the misuse of new technologies for recruitment and operational planning. This convergence on security threats reflected a shared vulnerability—India and Arab states alike face non-state actors that respect no borders.

The mechanics of the meeting itself revealed something about contemporary diplomacy. All 22 Arab League members sent delegations, but only seven countries—the UAE, Libya, Oman, and Qatar among them—dispatched foreign ministers. The full attendance alongside partial ministerial representation suggested both the importance of the occasion and the constraints of coordinating across a fractious region. India had managed to convene the Arab world at a moment when that world was itself recalibrating its relationships, its priorities, and its vision for the future. Modi's Israel visit loomed ahead, a test of whether India could maintain its balancing act or whether the region would force a choice.