By IANS
New Delhi : Palestine needs a leader in Mahatma Gandhi's mould to lead its struggle against Israel's occupation of its territory, its envoy here said Monday, admitting that the current pattern of resistance was counterproductive.
"We have to make experiments and tests to explore ways to achieve our aims through peaceful methods. So, we hope we will find a leader like Gandhi in Palestine," Ambassador Osama Musa said at a press conference here.
"We were stupid enough to play into Israel's hands," he admitted of the violent clashes in Gaza and the West Bank between armed Palestinian groups and Israeli defence forces, adding: "The Gandhian way is the only way to the struggle in Palestine.
"We hope we will find a leader of the stature of Gandhi," Musa maintained.
The press conference was called on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the June 5, 1967 war launched by Israel and which saw its occupation of large swathes of Palestinian territories. Ahmed Salem Al-Wahisti, the ambassador of the League of Arab States, was also present on the occasion.
Lauding New Delhi's support for the Palestinian cause, Musa said: "India has stood beside us and we are very happy to have India stand by us."
In this context, he noted that India had initiated a $30 million project to construct a school and a hospital in the Palestinian territories. This apart, India had allotted a large plot of land at a throwaway price in the Chanakyapuri diplomatic enclave here for constructing a Palestinian embassy and was also providing political and economic assistance, the envoy added.
Indicative of their close ties, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr is to visit India later this month, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to travel here in July or August, Musa stated.
Earlier, Arab League envoy Al-Wahisti demanded immediate Israeli withdrawal from the territories it had occupied post the 1967 war in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights "and what is left from the Lebanese territories".
Further, the "continuing build up of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, the utilisation of its water, polluting its environment and the attacks on its sacred worship places, in particular, the Aqsa Mosque (are) unilateral actions that hinder the efforts of regional and international communities in their quest to establish a just and lasting peace in the region.
"In the light of all this, the Arab side reaffirms the necessity to exert all efforts of the international community to work toward ending the Israeli occupation of Arab territories and to achieve peace in the region," Al-Wahisti maintained.