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Israeli Official to Visit India, as Students Call for Severing Ties
NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's National Security Advisor, Major General Uzi Dayan, will visit India next week for talks on cooperation in defense and intelligence-sharing, an Israeli diplomat said Thursday, news agencies reported.
"The visit is scheduled to start on Monday," the diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
During his stay in New Delhi, Dayan will hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Brajesh Mishra, who is also the principal secretary to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
A meeting between Dayan and Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani is also in the cards. Dayan's visit follows a trip by India's Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh to Israel in June of last year.
During Singh's visit, an Indo-Israel Joint Working Group mechanism was set up to share intelligence, fight "terrorism", and train Indian security personnel.
Dayan's delegation will comprise of senior Israeli defense and security officials and will interact with the heads of Indian security agencies.
Dayan will also hold talks on the sale of defense and security equipment to India.
A report Thursday in India's Hindu newspaper said New Delhi was working on integrating its surface-to-air Akash missile and the Israeli Arrow-2 system in order to build a comprehensive shield against attacks by ballistic missiles and planes.
In July, Israel's Haaretz daily reported that the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) signed an estimated two billion dollar weapons contract with India's defense ministry.
Under the terms of the agreement, the IAI, which works in cooperation with Israel's defense ministry, will deliver aircraft, radar systems and surface-to-surface missiles, via India's largest defense contractor, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), the paper said.
Earlier this year, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was quoted by news agencies as saying that his country "will work to strengthen its relations with Israel."
Meanwhile in Mumbai, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) said that India should sever diplomatic relations with Israel, the daily
Times of India reported Thursday.
SIMI's statement followed the final draft declaration at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism (UNWCAR), which condemned the role of Israel in the Middle East, the daily added.
The national general secretary of SIMI, Safdar Nagori, said in a statement that, "India should end diplomatic relations with the Zionist state of Israel following the final declaration at the UNWCAR."
The U.N. declaration had four clauses in its draft that strongly condemn Israel for its role in the Middle East and its denial of rights to Palestinians - language that made both the U.S. and Israel walk out of the UNWCAR in Durban, South Africa, on September 3rd.
Nagori demanded that the government call off Dayan's forthcoming visit to India, said the
Times of India.
Criticizing the government's move to form the Indo-Israeli joint working group, Nagori said the strengthening of ties with a "racist terrorist" state like Israel is most unfortunate.
"The government should respect feelings of Muslims in India and should not ignore the fact that Israel occupies the third holiest shrine of Islam, Masjid-el-Aqsa, illegally and indulges in acts of terrorism against the innocent men, women and children of Palestine," Nagori added.
India and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992 and have been nurturing an increasingly warm relationship, to the dismay of many Arab and Islamic countries.
Both India and Israel have denied media reports that Israeli experts are helping India combat a 12-year Muslim uprising in Kashmir.
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