January 29, 1992 marked the beginning of a new age in Indiaโs relations with the State of Israel. After more than four decades of distant and often hostile relations between the two countries, India's foreign minister announced that full diplomatic ties had been made official. The door was now open to the development of economic, military and political cooperation between the Republic of India and Israel.
Mideast Security and Policy Studies
Mideast Security and Policy Studies serve as a forum for publication or re-publication of research conducted by BESA Center research associates.
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Dramatic events have unfolded in the Middle East since the beginning of 2011. This unstable environment indicates trouble for Israel. What follows is an assessment of the implications of the changing regional environment for Israelโs national security.
This important study, based on previously classified data, refutes Palestinian claims that Israel is denying West Bank Palestinians water rights negotiated under the Oslo Accords.
Since India and Israel first established diplomatic relations in 1992, defense cooperation has played a major role in bilateral ties, with India emerging as one of Israel's largest arms clients. Furthermore,this relationship has strengthened since the 1998 ascendance to power of the Hindu-oriented Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India, which emphasized the threat of Islamist terrorism, thus making Israel a natural ally. Just as Israel faces tremendous security threats from Iran, due to its nuclear program and support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hizballah, India remains concerned with the Pakistani nuclear arsenal and Pakistan-based terrorist activities.
When the first Qassam rocket landed in the town of Sderot in October 2001, few observers, if any, perceived it as the harbinger of a protracted and increasingly furious campaign by the radical Palestinian groups in Gaza against Israel's population centers adjacent to the Gaza Strip (the so called "Gaza envelope" communities) by ballistic weapons.
Ever since Syriaโs loss of the Golan Heights to Israel in the June 1967 Six Day War, the strategic plateau has been a matter of contention between the two states. Immediately after the war, Israel offered to withdraw from the Heights in exchange for a peace treaty, but was rebuffed. Subsequently, Israel established a civilian presence on the plateau and in December 1981 decided to extend Israeli law to the area โ a de facto annexation.
Tensions between Ankara and Jerusalem have escalated since Turkey harshly criticized Israel following its invasion of the Gaza Strip in December 2008 (Operation Cast Lead). This is due to a reorientation in Turkish foreign policy, characterized by moving away from the West and by a desire for better relations with Muslim states.