At first glance, this sounds like a balanced diplomatic gesture; an offer to move forward based on mutual recognition. But in practice, it risks being interpreted as a dangerous shift, one that places the burden of peace, statehood and legitimacy on the oppressed rather than the occupier.

In the midst of war and widespread accusations of war crimes, this framing risks centering Israel’s legitimacy and security at the expense of acknowledging the deep power asymmetry and the ongoing occupation.

While likely intended as a gesture of pragmatic diplomacy, Prabowo’s remarks could send a wrong message of rewarding intransigence, occupation and, currently, atrocities by suggesting that perhaps the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies in “winning over” Israel with gestures of goodwill.

One may argue that Prabowo’s statement aligns with Indonesia’s long-standing support for a two-state solution. But that concept has always meant two viable and equal states, meaning Israel and a sovereign, contiguous Palestine, living side by side in peace and dignity, based on clear boundaries, such as those in the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan or the pre-1967 borders.

Today, that vision is being destroyed, not built. Gaza is being flattened. Settlements in the West Bank are expanding. Dispossession continues in East Jerusalem. Israel is not only refusing to recognize Palestinian statehood, it is actively erasing the very conditions under which such a state could exist.

This is not the time to validate Israel’s security narrative. Not when its policies on the ground constitute apartheid, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. Not when Palestinians, whether in Gaza, the West Bank or inside Israel itself, are being killed, besieged, imprisoned or expelled.