RAMALLAH: Narendra Modi on Saturday became the first Indian prime minister to visit the occupied West Bank where he held talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as part of a Middle East tour.

The visit, which came weeks after Modi hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was seen as an Indian effort to balance its strengthening ties with the Jewish state.

“I have once again assured President Abbas that India is bound by a promise to take care of the Palestinian people’s interests,” Modi said following a meeting with the Palestinian leader. “India hopes that soon Palestine will become a free country in a peaceful manner.”

Modi and his entourage had flown in by helicopter from Jordan, landing near Abbas’s Ramallah headquarters and laying a wreath at the mausoleum of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

New Delhi has long backed the Palestinian territories’ quest for nationhood and Modi has voiced support for an independent state existing peacefully alongside Israel.

After a bilateral meeting, Abbas gave the Indian leader a medal “in recognition of his wise leadership” and “efforts to promote the historic relations between the State of Palestine and the Republic of India.”

Speaking alongside Modi, Abbas said they had discussed “bringing the political process out of the deadlock due to the continued Israeli occupation of our land and the political impasse following (US President Donald) Trump’s decision on Jerusalem and the refugees”.

Trump in December shocked the Palestinians by breaking with decades of US policy and recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The US president is also withholding tens of millions of dollars from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2018