High-level contacts have taken place between Israel and India in an attempt to clarify the long chill that has characterized India-Israel relations since the establishment of the State. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned from a reliable source that such contacts included an incognito visit by Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan to India in 1977 and attempts at arranging a similar visit during Dayan’s trip to the Far East last month.
The source, a high-ranking member of the ruling Janata Party and one of Israel’s most fervent supporters in New Delhi, contends that Dayan’s trip to India during which he secretly met with high-level Indian officials, come as an attempt to further the diplomatic relations between the two countries which have never had full diplomatic ties. At present, an Israeli Consul-Is stationed in Bombay and India’s interests in Israel are handled through the British Embassy in Tel Aviv. The source added that although efforts were made last month to arrange an additional meeting, Dayan apparently refused to visit India incognito again. The Foreign Ministry has declined to comment.
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