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Photo by Juidin Bernarrd/Khaleej Times
Photo by Juidin Bernarrd/Khaleej Times

Dubai - The restaurant’s unobtrusive corners have been privy to the secret scripting of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

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Anjana Sankar

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Published: Thu 17 Dec 2020, 3:15 PM

Last updated: Fri 18 Dec 2020, 12:54 PM

Tel Aviv: It’s not just the aroma of Indian curry that will attract a visitor to the Tandoori Restaurant in Tel Aviv.

The first Indian eatery to open in the tech city serves slices of history soaked in political secrecy and surreptitious romance.


The restaurant’s unobtrusive corners have been privy to the secret scripting of the 1993 Oslo Accords – the landmark peace treaty signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Another nook at the eatery was a mute spectator to the blooming romance between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.


“Bibi (Netanyahu) had his first date with his wife Sara in this restaurant. This is where the couple sat,” said Reena Pushkarna, the eatery’s owner, while pointing out to a table at the far end of the right corner of the restaurant during Khaleej Times’ recent visit to Tel Aviv.

“The PM and his family love Indian food. I have known him for decades,” she said.

The 38-year-old restaurant's legacy is inextricably linked to Israel’s history.

Reena, born to a Sikh father and a Jewish mother, made Israel her home 40 years ago along with her husband Vinod, a merchant navy officer.

The couple set up the restaurant, as there was a void for an Indian eatery in Tel Aviv’s vibrant culinary scene.

Reena has been dishing out hot and spicy curry to the who’s who of Israel including PMs, diplomats and visiting delegates.

In June 2018, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel, his Israeli counterpart invited Reena to cook for his special guest.

“Bibi said he wanted the same luck that he had with meeting Sara at the restaurant and later marrying her, for accelerating peace and love between India and Israel,” Reena reminisced.

“I went on a date with Sara to an Indian restaurant in Tel Aviv nearly 30 years ago. Yesterday, I asked Reena, the owner of the same restaurant, to prepare a meal for a different kind of date – a meal with Indian PM Modi. Thank you, PM Modi, for your wonderful friendship,” the Israeli PM had put out a social media post, a day after his Indian counterpart’s visit.

The restaurant’s wall adorns a framed picture that shows Reena posing with Israeli and Indian PMs along with Sara.

The restaurant, which has an elegant wood and leather interior, has had a tryst with history since inception.

The first among the many informal rounds of talks between Israel and Palestine negotiated by Norway to stitch together the historic Oslo Accords were conducted over piping hot curry at the restaurant.

“The Oslo peace talks started in our restaurant. It is at the restaurant that the Norwegians, the Israelis and Palestinians had met for the first time. They felt that the staff at my restaurant will not be so inquisitive about what’s going on,” Reena recounted.

The ‘fateful luncheon’, as newspapers called it, which eventually led to Israeli PM Yitzahk Rabin shaking hands with PLO leader Yasser Arafat on September 13, 1993, had all begun at the restaurant.

The Oslo Accords was the first face-to-face agreement between Israel and the PLO that led to the withdrawal of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) from parts of occupied Gaza and West Bank.

In lieu, the PLO had agreed to recognise Israel.

In a media interview, former Pretorian Dov Randal had spoken about how he arranged Yossi Beilin, the then an opposition Labour member of Parliament in Israel, to meet Terje Rod Larsen, the head of a Norwegian institute, who was doing a research on the conditions in the Israeli-occupied territories, for a luncheon at the restaurant.

“Gefilte fish was the spiciest delicacy that Yossi’s palate could manage. He had ordered a Diet Coke assuming that when he finished it, the meeting would be over. The waiters were impatiently hovering around the table making signs for us to leave.” Dov was quoted by Telfed magazine in the article titled ‘He had a hunch about this lunch’ in its June 1998 edition.

“We had no clue about it. When (US President) Bill Clinton invited the PLO chief (Arafat) and PM Rabbin to the White House for the famous handshake, ABC Television zoomed in on our restaurant and said this is all where it started. That is how even I am to know that our restaurant was part of Oslo Accords,” said Reena.

The restaurateur, who introduced Indian food to Israel, is happy to bask in the reflected glory of her enterprise.

Israel is in the middle of a historical occasion following the signing of the landmark Abraham Accords with the UAE in Washington on September 15.

“This is a new beginning for both the countries. We are glad that we are hosting the media from Dubai for the first time. We hope that this will open the gates to a new chapter of glorious friendships,” she signed off on an optimistic note.

anjana@khaleejtimes.com


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