New Delhi, July 6 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel ruptures India's long-held stand that Tel Aviv is "an occupying power of Palestinian territories" and amounts to virtually abandoning the Palestinian cause, the CPI-M said on Thursday.

"The announcement of a 'strategic partnership' with Israel in the joint statement, which is a strategic alliance, amounts to a virtual abandonment of the Palestinian cause," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said. 

"This was reinforced by Modi not visiting Ramallah and the Palestinian Authority. Throughout the visit, the Indian Prime Minister did not say a word about India's stand on the issue of a Palestinian State," a CPI-M statement said.

"The joint statement talks of cooperating to fight terrorism in all forms, when it is well known that as far as Israel is concerned, it is the Palestinian organisations fighting the occupation who are labelled as terrorists.

"The BJP-led government's alliance with Israel is a reflection of its pro-imperialist, Hindutva-oriented foreign policy," the CPI-M said. "The CPI-M demands that all security and military cooperation with Israel be ended forthwith."