New Delhi: A meeting of the 11-nation BRICS deputy foreign ministers and special envoys held in New Delhi on Friday (April 24) ended without a joint statement and instead witnessing extended late-night parleys and heated debated, reported The Hindu. The newspaper reported the way the meeting turned out further indicated to more trouble for India’s BRICS Presidency this year.Citing a number of diplomatic and official sources present in the meeting, The Hindu reported that delegates from the United Arab Emirates and Iran sparred over the West Asia crisis.During the meetings held on April 23-24, when India tried to “tone down” language on Israel and Palestine, almost all the other members opposed it.The issues raised in the meeting suggest that more difficult negotiations will come up when BRICS foreign ministers are due to meet on May 14-15. At present, the BRICS summit is scheduled for September 10-11.Several BRICS foreign ministers, including those of Russia, China, Egypt, and Brazil have confirmed they will attend the meeting next month.The newspaper cited sources present in the meetings and reported that officials from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) negotiating the joint statement wanted to amend paragraphs from BRICS summits in Brasilia in 2025 and Kazan in 2024.The proposed amendments included softening language criticising Israel for its bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon, and dropping a reference to “East Jerusalem” to be established as the capital of the Palestinian state as a part of the two-state solution.MEA officials also sought to replace references to “Israel” while criticising its operations in the West Bank and Lebanon with the less direct term “occupying power”.“We were very surprised as India has agreed to such language at many multilateral fora,” a diplomat told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.Another diplomat highlighted the fact that India had incorporated such changes during the India-Arab League Summit held in Delhi in January 2026. In bilateral statements, India stopped using the term “East Jerusalem” in 2017.While the MEA declined several requests from the newspaper for a response on whether India’s position on Palestine was isolated at the meeting a government source told PTI that “There was no change in India’s position on the Palestine issue”.The source attributed the lack of consensus to “sharp difference of positions among members who are party to the conflict”.