(FE)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting three countries in the West Asia and Gulf region including Palestine, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman from 9 to 12 February, the Indian foreign ministry announced on Saturday.
Modi’s visit to Palestine is his first since taking office in 2014. And it’s a standalone visit to Ramallah that comes after a similar visit to Israel last year— the first ever by an Indian prime minister in seven decades. The visit to Palestine also comes after Modi hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on six day visit to India between 14-19 January as the two countries marked the completion of 25 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Modi has previously played host to Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas—in May last year—just before his visit to Israel in July. The visits indicate that India’s Israel and Palestine policies will run independent of each other on separate tracks, say Indian foreign ministry officials and analysts.
