New Delhi
19 March 2008
dialogue, a visiting Israeli academic has suggested India to consider an "informal"
alliance among them for regional cooperation.
Prof Zaki Shalom from the Ben Gurion University, whose interests range from the threats
of radical terror to Israeli defence policy, believes the trilateral framework will pay a rich
dividend to all three countries.
"No formal alliance is needed as long as all the countries involved can cooperate in a
practical manner ... it could be an informal alliance to foster regional cooperation," Prof
Shalom said in an interaction with this newspaper.
"It would not mean we agree on all issues. We got to live with them (differences)," he
said, adding that it is upto Israel and India to take the initiative to enlarge this framework
of cooperation to include other players.
He insisted that such a cooperation is called for to "prevent the people who want to
change the status quo by the use of force". Israel and India have a lot in common and
they can do business despite disagreements, he added.
The proposed trilateral architecture was first mooted several years ago. It was
suggested that integrating India into the Israeli-Turkish track under an American umbrella
could help meet common threats and challenges.
Recently Turkey proposed to deliver Central Asian oil gas to India via Israel. Turkish
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Babacan made the offer during a visit to India, the first by a
Turkish foreign minister in several decades.
According to Mr MK Bhadrakumar, a retired Indian diplomat who served as ambassador
to Turkey, Iraqi oil would be an "important lubricant" to galvanise this trilateral
framework of cooperation and to lend it a strategic dimension.
However, Mr Bhadrakumar felt that this proposed framework would only serve to break
Israel's isolation in the region; the "Arab street" opinion might become loaded against
India if she becomes "unnecessarily involved".
Meanwhile, recognising the importance of actively projecting its soft power abroad,
Israel has said that it intends to reach out to a new generation of Indians and converse
with them in their language.
The Embassy of Israel in New Delhi plans to publish reading material in Hindi, Urdu and
Telugu for the benefit of libraries, schools, universities and media organisations in the
states where these languages are popular.
The publication will be a primer of sorts. It will give basic facts about Israel, its economy,
how to do business in Israel, culture, cuisine, West Asia conflict, India-Israel relations
and the Holocaust.
The initiative draws inspiration from a research conducted by an Israeli non-government
organisation in India and Denmark to study popular perception about Israel and to
suggest options for public diplomacy.
It will be the first of a series of outreach programmes. The publication will be translated
into more Indian languages depending on the response from the targeted audience. The
Israeli embassy here is also working on a Hindi website.
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