Israel has long been a settler colonial state and India appears swiftly to be headed in that same direction.
The Israeli model continues to being stepped up in the occupied Himalayan Valley. In August 2020, DesPardes published an insight quoting a senior Pakistani defense official based in of the major Mideast capitals as saying, “India is trying to copy the Israeli Model.”
Almost two years have passed since India annexed the valley, leading many to compare it to Palestine land being gobbled up by Israel as major powers watch in silence and the Abraham Accord pans out post-Trump and in President Joe Biden’s era.
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Here are four reasons why they’re connected, according to the Middle East Eye:
DesPardes asked a number of observers and analysts. “How would you compare Palestine and Kashmir?”
“Very very similar; the victim(s), oppressor(s), the global support for the oppressor and the method(s) are same. Only one difference is the neighbor/the supporter, one (Arabs) have given in to the pressure and the other ( Pakistan) is still holding on,” said a senior Pakistani defense official.
A Gulf analyst said: Palestine is outright theft. Illegal settlers have poured in from around the globe and killed and occupied with the total indirect encouragement of the US and other powers. In Kashmir too the native population have been deprived of their right of self-determination and now with the RSS rule the demographic fabric is being changed. Tyranny prevails.
Asia-Pacific based analyst and author of several books on US-China relations and South Asia commented: Palestinians are under a very strict expulsion-or-occupation regime under Israel which, with direct US support, has been able to exercise violent military-security control and subjugation. Kashmiris, in partial contrast, have had a divided life. Azad Kashmiris have had a much more relaxed experience under Pak administration. Valley Kashmiris have experienced – since December 1989 – extremely violent exposure to Indian military-security control and confinement. Their experience has occasionally been even tougher than Palestinians because the international system has ignored Indian excesses. Both have responded with resistance but with similar failure. Israel and India have been too important to the system’s leaders and primate that they have enjoyed immunity and impunity.
Syed Muhammad Ali, Director Nuclear & Strategic Affairs, Center for Aerospace & Security Studies, a Pakistan based think tank said: Palestine is more sacred, Kashmir is more dangerous.
Karachi-based foreign affairs observer and writer Amb. G R Baloch stated: The two people are being killed and maimed by new fascist regimes. No less no more.
Islamabad-based observer and writer Aziz Ahmed says: Brutality amounting to genocide at both the places.
An Islamabad-based security and geopolitical analyst said: 1) Both disputes are a legacy of British colonialism; 2) Both disputes have their own influences but Palestinian issue has had a major impact on the Muslim world psychology. So much so that the two largest Muslim political movements have their roots in Palestine (Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb Tahrir), while many Jihadi organizations are also rooted in Palestinian dispute; 3) UN has been ineffective in both disputes (enabling occupiers in many cases); 4) The occupiers of these two lands have employed similar tactics against the population, such as demographic changes, brutal security laws etc. 5) At the public level, the issue of Palestine is seen as a Muslim issue (while at Arab regime level, its now just an issue between Palestine and Israel) while Kashmir has been seen primarily as and Indo-Pak dispute.
Irshad Salim, Islamabad
