'India favours Mideast solution based on UN, Arab initiatives'

Betwa Sharma

United Nations, Nov 4 (PTI) India believes that a solution
to the Middle East conflict should be based on relevant UN
resolutions and initiatives taken by Arab and other countries,
senior CPI(M) MP Khagen Das has said while expressing
solidarity with the "struggling" Palestinian people.
New Delhi will continue to do all it can "to assist
Palestine in its endeavours in capacity and
institution-building," Das, who is here on an official visit,
told the UN General Assembly.
"We salute the struggling people of Palestine," the Lok
Sabha MP said.
Noting that India had given USD one million to the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) active in the region,
he said "we express our solidarity with the Palestinian
people."
India underlines that a lasting solution to the
problem of Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories
was essential for the peace process.
"We believe that the solution to the Palestine issue
should be based on the relevant UN resolutions, the Arab Peace
Plan and the Quartet Roadmap (involving UN, EU, US and Russia)
resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State
of Palestine living within secure and recognised borders, side
by side at peace with Israel," the MP said.
"The insecurity bred by extreme levels of poverty among
Palestinians in the occupied territories is heightened by the
lack of definitive progress in peace process."