Can India Mediate the Middle East Peace Process?

On the question of the emerging close ties between India and the US, the Syrian President observed, "India has strong relations with most of the world, including the US...If India wants to use these relations for ushering peace in West Asia, that will be positive". [...]Assad felt that New Delhi should "convince" the US as well as Israel to have peace on top of their agenda.4 Similar sentiments were reiterated a couple of months later by President Mahmoud Abbas who told the Indian media, "India, the second largest populated nation in the world and the biggest democracy with a booming economy, including hi-tech, could play an important role in the Middle East peace process".5 Indeed, earlier in September 2005, during his meeting with the then External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh in New York, the Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa suggested the India's special envoy to the region should be renamed as special envoy to the peace process.6 Even Israel was not far behind in joining this chorus. [...]we can offer support where it is needed or welcomed, for example to the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian civil society, in coordination with other countries.