The Evolution of India-Israel Relations - Rajendra Abhyankar

The Evolution of India-Israel Relations  - A Lecture by Rajendra Abhyankar, Diplomat-in-Residence at the Center for American and Global Security.

 Wednesday, April 13 - 4:15 p.m. -  Law School, Room 124

Soon after independence on 15 August 1947, one of the first foreign policy decisions that India confronted was its relations with the recently established State of Israel. Fresh out of the trauma of Partition, India decided to recognize the State of Israel, but only allowed consular relations on a non-reciprocal basis. Thereafter, sporadic and intermittent attempts were made to move the relationship forward. But India did not open up full diplomatic relations with Israel until May 1992 following the commencement of the Madrid Peace Process.

         

In contrast to the fallow decades of the past, the last 20 years have seen an explosive growth in the diversity of contact between the two countries. Beyond consultations on national security issues, defense exchanges became the corner-stone of the relationship in the 90’s, buttressed in recent years by business ventures based on technology and innovation. The future of the relationship between the two countries now finally appears to be divorced from the ups and downs of short-term political and security imperatives.i

Rajendra Abhyankar also is Chairman of the Kunzru Centre for Defence Study and Research, Pune. A former diplomat, he was Indian Ambassador to Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the EU, and served as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs with responsibility for Asia, North Africa, and Oceania. From 2006 to 2008 he was Director of the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

This lecture is free and open to the public.

Co-sponsored by the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, the Center for the Study of the Middle East and the Department of Political Science.