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Mobilizing support for Palestine’s freedom

Today, we are still fighting hard to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. In Palestine, the fight is even tougher.

Retno LP Marsudi (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, June 10, 2020

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Mobilizing support for Palestine’s freedom Strengthening solidarity: Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi (center) speaks during the OIC Emergency Session of the Council of the Foreign Ministers in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Nov.17, 2019. (Courtesy of the Foreign Ministry/File)

The extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday was extremely important.

The word “extraordinary” reflects the gravity of the situation. I hope the outcome of this meeting would also be extraordinary, not a business-as-usual result.

Today, we are still fighting hard to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. In Palestine, the fight is even tougher.

The creeping annexation and the COVID-19 pandemic is a double blow for Palestine. It shakes the very foundation of Palestine as a nation. It also threatens peace and stability in the region and beyond.

While everyone is focusing on global efforts to fight the deadly virus, Israel continues its path of annexation.

The current “de-facto” annexation is unacceptable. The planned “formal” annexation is even more unacceptable because it gravely violates international law and various United Nations resolutions, as well as undermines the international parameters and consensus on the question of Palestine, including the two-state solution, setting back years and years of diplomatic efforts and the prospect of peace. It will even kill our dream to see an independent and sovereign state of Palestine

In this hour of need, I would like to make an appeal to OIC member states: an appeal for massive mobilization.

The idea of OIC mobilization comes in three steps.

First, mobilization within and beyond the OIC. The mobilization will be directed to prevent division in the OIC’s voice. Our voice should be solid, which is to prevent a formal annexation from happening and to make the occupying power accountable for their illegal action.

If Israel finally carries on with the formal annexation, OIC countries with diplomatic relations with Israel should take diplomatic measures in line with various OIC resolutions.

Second, mobilization in international and multilateral forums. The OIC must become the engine for collective action in various global forums.

At the UN General Assembly, the OIC must initiate a resolution to reject the annexation. At the UN Security Council, OIC countries must urge the council to respond and take concrete measures to address the annexation. At the Human Rights Council, OIC members must voice their concerns over the potential human rights crisis caused by the annexation.

The OIC must also begin to lobby other groupings and other international organizations. On my part, I have sent letters to foreign ministers of Non-Aligned Movements, Group of 77, OIC countries, the European Union and all members of the UN Security Council, expressing Indonesia’s position and requesting their support to reject Israeli’s plan.

Third, mobilization to support the resumption of credible multilateral negotiations, which is guided by internationally agreed parameters with the aim to achieve a two-state solution.

Palestine is one of the oldest obstacles to our total commitment to the values of independence, humanity and justice. Therefore, Israel’s persistence on continuing the path of annexation cannot be tolerated.

Once again, let us work together, side-by-side, as a unified front to mobilize support for Palestine to stop Israeli’s despicable annexation plan.

 

The writer is Indonesia’s foreign minister. The article was based on her speech at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) extraordinary meeting held via a video conference on Wednesday.

 

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