Thousands of Israelis, many of them hardline settlers from the West Bank, marched through the Old City of East Jerusalem and forcibly entered the compound of Haram Al-Sharif (which the Jews call Temple Mount) where the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands, the third holiest site for Muslims. What went unreported is that behind the walls of the Old City, an iconic Indian passed away – an Indian who held India’s flag aloft throughout the occupation at great personal cost to his family.
Sheikh Mohammed Munir Ansari, on whom the President of India conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in 2011 and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority conferred the Star of Jerusalem in 2019, passed away at the age of 95.
Just behind Herod’s Gate in the Old City lies the Indian Hospice or Zawiya al-Hindiya. It was here that, in the early 13th century AD, Sikh Sufi saint Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Ganj Shakar, better known as Baba Farid, meditated for 40 days adjacent to a mosque. It became a pilgrimage site for Indian Muslims over centuries, and a hospice came into existence.
In 1948, the hospice even served briefly as a camp for the Indian Fourth Infantry Division. Sheikh Munir Ansari, an Indian national, took over as head of the hospice in 1952 from his father. However, the Six-Day War of 1967 saw the Israeli army bombard the hospice, tragically killing Munir Ansari’s mother, sister, and nephew. When I visited him in 1996-98, before its renovation by the Indian government, Munir Ansari and his son Naseer Ansari proudly showed us the huge Indian flag displayed at the hospice. I met him again in Ramallah when I accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his first-ever visit to Palestine in 2018. The Ansaris cherish their bonds with India, with their grandson Faris now settled in India.
It was also in Haram Al-Sharif that Maulana Mohammed Ali, the leader of the Khilafat movement during India’s independence struggle, was buried in 1931 in Khatuniyya Madrasa. Incidentally, the Nizam of Hyderabad had contributed substantially to restore Al-Aqsa, donated exquisite chandeliers, helped set up waqfs in Palestine, and restore the Indian Hospice. While India’s support for a two-state solution is well-known, not so well-known are our historical links with Palestine, which go much beyond Jerusalem or politics. Having lived in Gaza for two years as India’s first Representative to the Palestinian Authority between 1996-98, I witnessed many visible symbols of India’s close association with Gaza.
As the Israelis’ relentless bombardment of Gaza continues, killing more than 40,500 Palestinians, including 17,000 children, I recall my visit to a unique mosque in Deir Al Balah. An enthusiastic representative from Deir Al Balah (Monastery of Date Palms) invited me to their mosque which, he explained, traced its ancestry to the Da’wa sect originally from India (Da’wa means ‘invitation to Islam’). They were very keen that I pray with them and take part in a feast. They were delighted I knew Arabic and it did not seem to matter to them that I wasn’t Muslim. I cautioned him that I was vegetarian but would be happy with Arab aish (bread) and vegetables. This perturbed him, but his face brightened when I told him that I eat eggs.
On that day, I sat amongst the Palestinians in Deir Al Balah listening to the sermon of a South African cleric. After the prayers, at the feast, I was promptly served a plate with twelve boiled eggs dotting the sides and aish in the middle. I gamely went through three of them before I gave up.
There is a lot more of India in Gaza. The Commonwealth Gaza War Cemetery on Salah al-Din Road is the final resting place of more than 3,200 soldiers. Surrounded by tranquillity, 50 Indian soldiers lie – a poignant reminder of Indian lives lost primarily in World War I during the three Battles of Gaza fighting the Ottoman Empire. By September 1918, two-thirds of General Edmund Allenby’s infantry and one-third of his cavalry were Indians, and their role was decisive in defeating the Turks.
In 1956, the UN negotiated a ceasefire in Gaza and sent, for the first time, a UN peacekeeping contingent – the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). The Indian army became an integral part of UNEF stationed in Gaza. Over 11 years, India contributed more than 13,000 personnel, including two Force Commanders. It is part of Gaza folklore that when the Indian contingent played football with other European UNEF contingents, locals cheered vociferously for our team!
The Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa arrived in Gaza in February 1973. Their entry into Gaza was dramatic since they came hours after the killing of a parish priest, Father Hanna Al-Nimri, and helped clean up the bloodied walls. The golden jubilee of their presence was last year. After the recent Israeli bombings, their modest premises started overflowing with hundreds of homeless Palestinians. Though the Israel’s rocket badly damaged their premises, these Indian sisters selflessly attended to the injured and served disabled and mentally challenged Palestinian children and the elderly.
In addition to Palestine, with deep historical links with Israel and the Jewish community and even with Lebanon, India has the credibility to take on a more active role in the Gaza war and on the Palestinian issue. With both the West and Arabs paralysed in the face of Israeli aggression, our involvement in the region is necessary since we have high stakes in the stability of the region. For this, India needs a regional policy which will include Iran, since West Asia cannot exclude Iran and still hope for peace. When the world looks at the Gaza war through the prism of realpolitik, a euphemism for condoning the gross violation of international law, India should actively promote peace – not just in Ukraine but in Gaza as well.
(T S Tirumurti was the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations (2020-22) and India’s first Representative to the Palestinian Authority in Gaza (1996-98).