New York, 15 Oct 2023: Azad Essa, a senior reporter for Middle East Eye based in New York, has shed light on the striking resemblances in the strategies employed by India and Israel within their disputed territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Palestine respectively.

Kashmir Media Service reports that Essa, in a video message, drew parallels between the history of both disputes, tracing the roots of the Jammu and Kashmir conflict to 1947, and the Palestine issue to 1948. Essa noted the similarity in the approach of both nations, accusing them of engaging in ethnic cleansing in their respective occupied territories.

Diving deeper into the comparison, Essa pointed out that both India and Israel have been entrenched in settler colonial projects within these regions. He went on to equate the ideologies driving the two nations: India’s Hindutva and Israel’s Zionism, suggesting both are major threats to the native Kashmiri and Palestinian populations. Essa remarked, “For both Israel and India, and Zionism and Hindutva, controlling Palestine and Kashmir are existential questions.”

Further, the reporter underscored the challenges faced by media in these regions, highlighting the targeting of journalists in both Kashmir and Palestine. Essa also claimed that both nations resort to collective punishments, and are alike in refusing to return the bodies of the deceased.

The parallel drawn by Essa is not just limited to their strategic approaches but extends to their methods, such as land seizures, displacing locals, stifling dissent, and limiting mobility. He emphasized, “However, whereas Israel wants to erase Palestinians and Palestine, India has for decades used assimilation as a tactic to control Kashmir. Now it is a lot more open to erasing Kashmiris.”

Azad Essa’s journalistic journey includes a stint at Al Jazeera English from 2010-2018, during which he extensively covered southern and central Africa.