TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia condemns Israeli crackdown on holy mosque
Change Size
Tear gas fumes billow during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces after Friday prayers at the main entrance of the West bank city of Bethlehem on Friday at a protest against new Israeli security measures implemented at the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. The new security measures include metal detectors, security cameras, and barring men under 50 from entering the Old City for Friday prayers, following an attack that killed two Israeli policemen the previous week. (AFP/ Musa Al Shaer )
I
ndonesia has condemned a crackdown by Israeli security forces that has cost the lives of three pilgrims and injured more than 100 people at the complex of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
"Indonesia rejects all forms of violence and human rights abuses, including the killing of pilgrims who seek to exercise their rights to worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said in a statement released on Saturday.
Arrmanatha said the government and the people of Indonesia expressed their deep condolences to the victims and the families of the victims, and were praying for the injured to quickly recover.
Jakarta was calling on all parties to restrain themselves so as not to exarcebate the situation, he added.
Indonesia had also called upon the United Nations Security Council to urgently convene an emergency meeting and take measures to halt the violence by the Israeli security forces, the offical further stressed.
The same gesture was directed at the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, which Indonesia urged to "immediately" convene in an emergency meeting to discuss the unraveling situation.
The world's largest Muslim-majority country has increased its tone of concern following the shooting in front of Al-Aqsa, which began as an attempt by Israeli forces to disperse Muslim worshippers congregating for night prayers in an act of defiance against the restrictions placed on Palestinian Muslims to exercise their right of worship.(dmr)
