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Exclusive conversation with OneIndia: Palestinian Ambassador to India Abdullah Abu Shawesh speaks to OneIndia Editor Pankaj Mishra about the historical narrative surrounding Haifa, India and Palestine.

In this exclusive interview, Ambassador Shawesh challenges what he describes as an Israeli attempt to distort the history of Haifa and disputes claims surrounding the role of Indian soldiers in the liberation of the city.

What is the historical record?
What does the Palestinian Ambassador claim has been changed?
And why does the history of Haifa matter in the India-Israel-Palestine relationship today?

The conversation comes amid a wider debate over competing historical narratives surrounding India, Israel and Palestine.

Watch Pankaj Mishra's exclusive conversation with Palestinian Ambassador Abdullah Abu Shawesh only on OneIndia.




Note: The claims regarding the historical narrative are those made by Ambassador Abdullah Abu Shawesh in this interview and are presented as his views.

Shawesh has previously spoken publicly about India's historical relationship with Palestine and has highlighted the role of Indian leaders and India's diplomatic support for the Palestinian cause.

#AbdullahAbuShawesh #Palestine #Haifa #IndiaPalestine #IndiaIsrael #Israel #IndianSoldiers #HaifaHistory #PalestineAmbassador #IsraelPalestine #MiddleEast #WestAsia #OneIndia #PankajMishra #ExclusiveInterview

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Transcript
00:00What are your views? How do you see Israel trying to put a wedge in India-Palestinian relations?
00:04Today, we used to say at that time, the main slogan is land without people for people without land.
00:10So that they completely eliminated us, even while we are the indigenous people,
00:16while we are the vast majority of the population.
00:19Today, everyone is traveling to Israel.
00:21The Ben-Gryon Airport is a pure Palestinian airport called, up to 1973, it was called Al-Lid Airport, Palestinian
00:30airport.
00:31We are a victim of the British occupation.
00:33We had been a victim of the British occupation during the First World War.
00:39We are a victim of the British issue of the Belfort Declaration.
00:43We are the victim up today, the very first issue.
00:45Israel is trying to say that the Indian soldier at that time came to liberate Haifa.
00:50This is in a big, big line.
00:54We are standing at the Palestinian embassy here in the national capital of India, New Delhi.
00:59With me is a Palestinian ambassador to India, Ambassador Abu Chavez.
01:04And the picture that you just saw, Yasser Arafat and Indira Gandhi tells the history between India and Palestine, the
01:13connect.
01:15Israel is casting aspersions on this relationship, as the film also showed, Ambassador.
01:21What are your views?
01:23How do you see Israel trying to put a wedge in India-Palestinian relations?
01:26Well, it's not only in India-Palestinian, but first and foremost, of course, thank you so much for having me
01:32and allow me to seize this opportunity.
01:34Pleasure.
01:35A very deep congratulation and best wishes to His Excellency, the Prime Minister of India, New Delhi, for his birthday,
01:43of course.
01:43And, of course, to extend many congratulations to India at large and again to the Prime Minister and his government
01:50for convening the Brexit summit.
01:52And a very significant step in our human life in this particular and tipping time, where the wars and all
02:02of these statuses are going in India to succeed, to convene, and to come with a very important outcome.
02:09The humanists deserve from our side as a Palestinian to send all of our best and congratulations.
02:14Back to your question, of course, yes, Israel is trying to falsify our history, not only these days, long time,
02:24even before the establishment of the state of Israel.
02:27Before 1948, the main slogan that used to occupy the discourse worldwide, by the cumulist and by the controlled media,
02:40by the Zionist movement,
02:41and this is not anti-Semitic because I must say this is a fact and I'm a Semitic person.
02:45So that they used to say at that time, the main slogan is land without people for people without land.
02:52So that they completely eliminated us, even while you are, not while we are the indigenous people,
02:58while we are the vast majority of the population, while they used to immigrate to carry our nationality at that
03:04time.
03:04I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of the people worldwide did not know that before 1948,
03:11all the Israelis, whom is Israeli, became Israeli today, and their ancestors at that time,
03:18used to hold the Palestinian nationality and the Palestinian passport.
03:22Today, everyone is traveling to Israel.
03:24The Ben-Gryon Airport is a pure Palestinian airport called, up to 1973, it was called Al-Lid Airport.
03:33Palestinian airport, one more land, let's be clear.
03:36So falsification of the history is there, it's a well-known issue.
03:42But since I assumed my office, I discovered that even they are trying to manipulate,
03:47to falsify part of the shared history as victims, both of us, India and Palestine.
03:53We are a victim of the British occupation.
03:55We had been a victim of the British occupation in 19 during the First World War.
04:01We are a victim of the British issue of the Belfort Declaration.
04:05We are the victim up to date, the very first issue or the very first one to sow the seed
04:11for all the misery that we are enduring up to date is the British.
04:15So that we are the victim of it.
04:17And I'm not blessed to remind you as Indian people about your history with the British at that time.
04:23Then I discovered that there is a battle called the Battle of Haifa and the Israelis trying to say that
04:29the Indian soldiers at that time came to liberate Haifa.
04:33This is in a big, big, big line.
04:38No one can even, anyone with a sense of logic cannot live with it at all.
04:44But anyone with a sense of logic cannot live with it for very simple, more than one reason.
04:49First and foremost, we in Palestine at that time, the citizens of Haifa, the Palestinians, it's a Palestinian citizen.
04:55Up to date, there is a direct, before 1948, it was a Palestinian citizen.
05:01We did not consider the Turkish, the old ones, as an occupation force.
05:05So you cannot say that it's an occupation and we liberate it.
05:09Okay.
05:09We did not submit any official request to the British to come and liberate it.
05:14Okay, okay.
05:15And the other issue, which is very important, how come the British became a liberation of forests in Palestine and
05:21at the same exact time, colonization, forests, and this is a contradiction issue.
05:29And you need, even if you bring an instrument, he will not be able to solve this.
05:34Believe it.
05:35Okay.
05:35And no one can believe it.
05:36And then I already submit our official position to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and I already circulate approximately 500
05:44official position papers on this regard all over.
05:48And yeah, I already create or the Embassy of Palestine create, I did not know what you call it, create
05:53or produce a video, which is 13 minutes.
05:56So you already saw it.
05:59So yes, just to contradict and to stand, to defend our history as Palestinian and I'm pretty sure it's a
06:06shared history between Palestine and Israel.
06:08Right.
06:09Absolutely.
06:10Ambassador, stay with us.
06:12The 13-minute video that Ambassador is mentioning about how Israel is trying to create a charade or maybe create
06:20something which never existed, that Indian forces went to liberate Haifa,
06:24the town which is talked about all these days.
06:27You can watch that 13-minute documentary here on One India, uncut version, courtesy of the Embassy of Palestine.
06:37Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
06:42Download the One India app now.
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