New York, Sept 19 : India today expressed solidarity with the Palestinian cause and called for a negotiated solution between Israel and Palestine based on mutual recognition and security. “India’s commitment and support for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause is historical, and our solidarity with the Palestinian people can never be undermined,’’ External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj remarked speaking at the Ministerial Committee of NAM Committee on Palestine. She said she strongly believed that India’s expanding relations in the region with all nations will only strengthen the Palestinian cause. “During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in July this year to mark 25 years of our diplomatic relations, we reiterated the need for a just and durable peace in the region. The path to this clearly lies in an early negotiated solution between Israel and Palestine based on mutual recognition and security,’’ she said For independent India, Ms Swaraj underlined, support for the Palestinian cause has been a reference point of its foreign policy. She said it was a matter of great personal satisfaction for me that over the last two years, the tempo of the partnership with the Palestinian people had been significantly stepped up. She spoke of her visit to the Palestinian territories, when she along with her Palestinian counterpart Riyad Maliki took the decision to establish for the first time ever a Ministerial level Joint Commission to better manage the cooperation activities. Ms Swaraj also mentioned the visit of President Mahmoud Abbas to India, and said ‘’We have through these high-level engagements continuously tried to expand our bilateral cooperation even further, to help strengthen the economy in the Palestinian territories and improve the lives of the people living there. UNI
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