T

he foreign ministry will soon open a representative office in Palestine and is currently studying how to do so as Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel which occupies Palestine.

“We will not open an embassy but a representative office,” ministry spokesman Michael Tene told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Friday.

“We are still trying to find the possibilities to open an office in Palestine, in Ramallah although Palestine is still being occupied by Israel.”

Michael said the office would be opened in Ramallah as other countries already had their embassies there. He, however, cannot give the clear time frame on when Indonesia would open the office in Palestine.

Indonesia, he said, had to coordinate with Israel before opening the office. “I expect the coordination with Israel would be difficult because we do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.”

When asked on how the office would operate, Michael refused to disclose the details.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas asked the United Nations in September to recognize its independence despite strong protests from Israel the US.

Palestine has already an embassy in Indonesia while both Indonesia and Chinese Taipei have economic and trade offices which serve as de facto diplomatic missions.

Previously, lawmaker Al Muzammil Yusuf has urged the ministry to open an embassy in Palestine despite having diplomatic relations with Israel.

Muzammil, a member of the House of Representatives’ Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs, said that there were several countries which have opened their embassies.

Antara news agency quoted Muzammil, a lawmaker from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said the opening of an embassy would bring positive impacts for the Palestinians as well as strengthening relations between both countries.

In a separate development, the Indonesian Cardiac Center is scheduled to start operation by the end of this year in Gaza Strip.

“The construction will be completed by the end of this year or early next year the latest,” the Health Ministry’s director general for disease control and environmental health Tjandra Yoga Aditama told reporters on Wednesday.

The Indonesian government has donated US$2.1 million to develop the cardiac center while the Islamic Development Bank also chipping in some funding.

Tjandra said the center, which is being built at the Al Shifa Hospital, is a government-to-government aid to the Palestine Authority.

On its part, the Palestine Authority has donated a 16,261-square-meter plot of land to build the center with an estimated cost of Rp 10 billion ($1.11 million). The Al Shifa hospital will be a six-story building with a two-story wing houses the cardiac center.

The government has appointed Harapan Kita Cardiac Hospital in Jakarta to be the training and operational center for the cardiac center in Gaza.