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alestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Fariz Mehdewisays that the world is racing against time to solve the
Palestine-Israel conflict, and called on the international community to pay close attention to the issue and find ways to resolve the problem quickly.

In a forum commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Wednesday, Mehdawi said that the Palestine-Israel conflict was no longer a bilateral conflict but rather an international conflict that he described as “poisoning the stability of the world”.

Many bombings and terrorist attacks conducted by religious extremists all over the world were carried out in the name of the Palestine-Israel conflict, he said, adding that unless no agreeable consensus for both Palestine and Israel could be reached the security and the stability of the world would continually be held hostage.

The ambassador also denounced Israel’s stance of maintaining absolute sovereignty over Jerusalem and blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted on building Israel’s settlements at Palestinian territory, for hampering bilateral negotiations.

“Mr. Netanyahu was wrong, as Jerusalem is inclusive and it is not for the Jewish people only.

“Jerusalem is for Muslims, Christians and Jews. Just imagine if someone wanted this city [Jakarta] to be all Muslim, how would you feel?” said Mehdawi at Atma Jaya Catholic University on Wednesday.

ASEAN Foundation chairman Makarim Wibisono, who also attended the forum, urged the international community to support Palestine’s statehood bid in the United Nations, arguing that Palestinian’s independence was not a choice but a necessity.

“The issue of Palestine independence is not a religious issue — it is an issue of foreign occupation, human rights abuses and discriminatory treatment of the Palestinian people,” Makarim said.

Makarim lambasted US President Barack Obama for threatening to veto Palestine’s plan to regain statehood status at the UN, saying that Obama’s statement contradicted his previous pledge to grant Palestinians independence as well as promote peace in the restive Middle-East region.

In his speech at the UN General Assembly in September last year, Obama said that he supported Palestine’s independence and sovereignty as a nation to live side-by-side with Israel. “When we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that can lead to a new member of the United Nations; an independent [and] sovereign state of Palestine living in peace with Israel,” Obama said.

When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an application for full UN statehood to the Security Council in September, however, Obama threatened to veto the bid and denounced it as a “shortcut” for the ongoing process of Palestine-Israel negotiations.

Makarim said that 2011 could be the “moment of truth” for Abbas and the international community, saying that it was important to make Palestinian independence a reality before a possible political transition in the US elections in 2012. (sat)