NEW DELHI: India reaffirmed its support to Palestine on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he hoped to "see the realisation of a sovereign, independent, united and viable Palestine, co-existing peacefully with Israel".India and Palestine signed five agreements after talks between Modi and Abbas, who is on a four-day visit to India. Ahead of Abbas' visit, India had declared that it would continue to assist developmental projects in Palestine.After his talks with Abbas, Modi said, "Both sides, through practical cooperation, will work together to build Palestine's economy and contribute to improving the lives of its people. We will continue to support the development and capacity-building efforts of Palestine. "The bulk of the conversation covered the situation in West Asia and the state of the peace process. As it is, the global rise of Islamic terror groups like al Qaeda and IS, as well as the Arab revolutions have robbed the Palestinian cause of "altitude".In the past two decades, India has itself moved away from a singular exposure to Palestine by building a big strategic relationship with Israel.Modi will be the first Indian PM to visit Israel on July 5-6.Not losing an opportunity to push yoga, Modi asked Abbas to get Palestinians to participate in the International Yoga Day in June.

Source: Times of India May 17, 2017 00:00 UTC