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Palestine: Staying the course on a constitutional mandate
Anyone in a position to decide an abrupt break in a long-standing pro-Palestine policy cannot overlook the rich history that has informed Indonesia’s staunch position in support of the Palestinian people..
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Going home: Personnel of the Egypt Goodwill/Port Call 2024 mission perform a roll call on Feb. 17, 2024, in front of the Indonesian Navy hospital ship KRI Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat before departing to return home, at the El Arish port in Egypt. The hospital ship delivered humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. (Courtesy of the Indonesian Navy/-)
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mid the protracted negotiations for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, a jarring narrative from Israeli media has seemingly appeared out of nowhere, stirring doubt about Indonesia’s commitment to Palestine.
A string of reports, including from an author fervently committed to the cause of Zionist settler colonialism, paints in one instance a grossly misinterpreted version of efforts by authorities to evacuate Indonesian citizens from a place they have no legal or formal way of entering.
According to the reports, Indonesia was allegedly in the process of establishing formal ties with Israel before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack penetrated one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world. We should also note that Israeli forces were reported to have responded uncharacteristically late ion that day.
An unsubstantiated leak was quoted, and the alleged deal apparently fell apart because of the war which has dragged on for five months without firm international intervention.
Unsurprisingly, the Indonesian government claimed no knowledge of such a deal and rejected attempts to link the promise of diplomatic ties with humanitarian action.
There had been previous suggestions that Israel would use its clout to block Indonesia on various fronts, including its accession bid to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), if Jakarta did not cease to fly the banner of the Palestinian struggle.
But Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has repeatedly called for an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza, whether at the International Court of Justice last month, United Nations assemblies or as recently as last week at the ASEAN-Australia special summit in Melbourne.
