Palestine mood: so near, yet so far

JERUSALEM: Abdel Fatteh al-Masri's easy smile disappeared at the mention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. Sitting behind the counter at his grocery off Sultan Suleiman Street, facing the Damascus Gate to the Old City, his eyes turned wistful. The chubby 65-year-old with trembling hands recalled Indira Gandhi's friendship with former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and how India was the first non-Arab state to recognise Palestinian statehood in 1988. Then, he broke to the present. "Why is your Prime Minister so silent about our cause even when he is so near?" the Palestinian storeowner asked, sighing heavily. Over the past three days, Israel has welcomed Modi like a long-lost friend. On Tuesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara hosted a private Indian dinner for Modi at their Jerusalem residence. In the lively bars and marketplaces of West Jerusalem, young Israeli men and women speak about their vivid memories of visits to India. But in Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem neighbourhoods like al-Masri's, barely 3km from Modi's West Jerusalem hotel, the King David, the reactions to the visit are starkly different: they swing from disappointment to frustration. Officially, the city at the heart of the Arab-Israel dispute has embraced Modi. But on the streets, the reactions to the visit are as divided as the city itself. Many in East Jerusalem - which India officially still considers "occupied territory" - are wondering if the visit, which Israel views as the pinnacle in bilateral ties, is also the lowest trough in India's friendship with the Palestinian people. Some hopefully ask if Modi may visit Palestine later. Others question why he chose not to even mention the region's troubled reality, let alone visit Palestinian territories. "Even Donald Trump spoke publicly about the dispute, about the need for a resolution," said Farid al-Ghazzawy, a Palestinian taxi driver, as he navigated the hilly lanes of East Jerusalem's Issawiyya neighbourhood on a sweaty Tuesday afternoon. "Everyone comes here, and then also goes to Ramallah. Why is Modi pretending there's no problem? It's not good." By the time Modi had landed at Ben Gurion airport on the outskirts of the city of Lod on Tuesday afternoon, no one on either side of Jerusalem's divide expected him to visit Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered. India, Israel and the Palestinian Authority had all made Modi's travel plans clear. Still, some in East Jerusalem expected Modi to at least underscore, sitting in Israel, India's traditional position seeking a two-state solution, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state. That's a position India has maintained since the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israeli troops took control of East Jerusalem from Jordan, which held it till then. Even today, finding an Arab in East Jerusalem who knows Hebrew, or a Jew in West Jerusalem who speaks Arabic, is not easy. "I reiterated India's principled support to the Palestinian cause and called for a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and recognised borders, side by side at peace with Israel," President Pranab Mukherjee had said in October 2015 after a visit to Israel, Ramallah and Jordan. But Modi did not refer to that position during the four public statements he made during his visit, which ended on Thursday evening when the Prime Minister flew to Hamburg, Germany, for the G20 summit. Instead, he only called for "peace and dialogue". Khaled Halaweh's teashop in the Muslim quarters of the Old City bears witness to the city's tortured modern history. On his walls sit photos of Jordan's King Abdullah and Queen Rania and a framed Jordanian note carrying the image of Abdullah's father - former King Hussein - with a Jordanian flag tucked in behind. Jordan, apart from holding East Jerusalem for Palestinians till 1967, is home to the world's largest Palestinian refuge population. Across the street in front of Halaweh's shop, Israeli defence force soldiers stand guard. "Palestinians love India as a force for good," Halaweh said as he served sweetened black tea. "But now people are wondering if India loves us as much." Fresh tensions over Israeli settlements in what Palestinians, the UN - and India - officially consider "occupied territories" have only added to the apprehension sparked by Modi's decision to avoid any mention of India's traditional position on Palestine. Following Trump's visit to Jerusalem, Israel this month declared plans to build 1,800 new Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama had pressed Israel to put fresh settlements on hold. On Friday, Israel and Palestine are expected to face off at a Unesco meeting in Paris, where Palestine has sought world heritage status for the old city of Hebron, in the West Bank. "When a world leader of the stature of India's Prime Minister ignores Palestine during his visit to Jerusalem, it only emboldens those pushing these settlements on East Jerusalem," said 27-year-old Maysoon Zayed in the neighbourhood of Jabel Mukabar, which stands partially divided by a security wall built by Israel. Zayed, who studied engineering in India, works at an information technology start-up in Jerusalem. "It's surprising and sad," he added. Some Palestinians in East Jerusalem are still clinging on to hope that Modi may visit Ramallah later. "Maybe the next time?" al-Masri asked, looking at this reporter. His son Hassan, who was neatly stacking rolls of toilet paper on a shelf in their shop, turned round with an exasperated look, and spoke to his father in quick Arabic that he then translated. "I'm telling him it's stupid to expect that." -The Telegraph Calcutta