Federica Mogherini (AFP/Patsy Lynch)

Indonesia and the European Union are vowing to work together to ensure that the two-state solution is “the only realistic solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has spiked following the widespread backlash over the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Delivering a joint statement with Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini insisted the EU would support a solution to the conflict that involves recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

“We must keep working toward this solution together, creating the right international framework to accompany the relaunch of direct negotiations with a clear political horizon of two states with Jerusalem as capital of both,” Mogherini said in a video circulated by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

Europe’s top diplomat also pledged to keep close contact with Retno on the issue and work with Indonesia to ensure the debate over Jerusalem’s status would not be mistaken for a religious issue.

Their meeting came after an emergency summit of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey, during which Muslim leaders condemned US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and called on the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Having attended the Istanbul summit, Retno went to Brussels to compare notes with Mogherini and canvas support for Palestinian self-determination among European countries, which collectively supply much of the aid received by the Palestinian Authority and also maintain close ties with Israel. Jakarta has no such ties with Tel Aviv.

Mogherini noted that the European Commission had hosted Israeli leader Benyamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi earlier this week. Retno relayed to her EU counterpart the results of the the OIC summit, including the commitment by members countries to make Palestine a priority foreign policy issue and the collective rejection of the unilateral change to the status of Jerusalem.

“The recognition is null and void,” Retno said. “We invite all countries to recognize the state of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its capital.”

At least 70 percent of the United Nations’ 193 member states recognize the state of Palestine, while many that do not nevertheless recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the “representative of the Palestinian people.” Washington’s decision triggered widespread anger and protests across the Muslim world. Jerusalem is considered holy by Judaism, Christianity and Islam and is Islam’s third holiest site.

Separately, Hamdan Basyar, a Middle East researcher at the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said on Thursday that the government’s active role rallying support for Palestine should be appreciated, underscoring the Muslim world’s united front in issuing the OIC joint statement.

He said it was particularly important that Muslim leaders were united on the cause to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. “Im afraid that if the condemnation or rejection was issued individually by each country, it would not have any effect,” he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

For the next step, he urged OIC member states to bring the joint statement to the UN General Assembly or even the UN Security Council so as to mount more pressure against the Trump administration.

“Trump’s decision has yet to be implemented and stronger rejection from the international community might be able to change his mind,” Hamdan said.

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