In his keynote speech for a discussion on Palestine organized by the University of Indonesia School of Strategic and Global Studies (SKSG UI) on Friday, Kalla said Indonesia had primarily taken a diplomatic and political role in supporting the Palestinian cause, often publishing strong statements of support for Palestine.

He added that Indonesia had previously tried to take a more active role. In 1993, president Soeharto had invited Palestinian president Yasser Arafat to the State Palace, and invited Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin to his private residence on Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta.

Kalla said that another possibility for Indonesia to help broker peace between Palestine and Israel was by establishing trade ties with Israel. The suggestion was raised when he had met the Israeli trade minister during a World Trade Organization conference in the state of Washington in the United States.

Although Kalla did not specify the date of the WTO event and the identity of the Israeli minister in his speech, he was likely referring to the WTO conference held in Seattle in November 1999, which he had attended as the Industry and Trade Minister under then-president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid.

While calling on the country to maintain its support for Palestine, Kalla said that brokering peace between the two conflicting sides necessitated establishing ties with both Palestine and Israel.

“It’s impossible to broker peace without understanding the two sides well. I myself did so,” he said.

Kalla said he had made several visits to both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as met with officials from the two countries, albeit not in an official capacity.

Tread carefully

Omar Barghouti, a cofounder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement who also participated in the SKSG UI discussion, cautioned that Indonesia should be careful about entertaining any ideas on normalizing ties with Israel.

He said “liberal voices” in Indonesia were currently pushing for normalizing relations with Israel, arguing that doing so would bring substantial Israeli investment and trade to Indonesia.

Barghouti underlined that such claims were an “utter betrayal” of the Palestinian cause and mere propaganda. Indonesia was the 7th largest economy in GDP based on purchasing power parity, while Israel had ranked 50th for decades.

“Indonesia is the largest Muslim [majority] country, a great economic power. It has a particular responsibility not only to join, but also to play a leading role in the global south’s response to the Palestinian appeal for meaningful solidarity,” he said.

Barghouti called for Indonesia to continue to oppose the normalization of ties, military and security embargoes and divesting investment funds, all of which could empower Israel.

At the UN General Assembly in 2012, Indonesia had voted in favor of Palestine’s recognition as a nonmember observer state, and had also recognized the Palestinian declaration of independence in 1988.

Henny Saptatia, the head of the SKSG UI European studies program, told the discussion that while Indonesia had been supportive of Palestinian independence, it could do more.

She said Indonesia could take advantage of its Group of 20 presidency this year and ASEAN chairmanship next year to raise the issue, as several member states in the G20 and ASEAN still had yet to recognize Palestinian independence.

“When Indonesia says there is a food crisis, an energy crisis and other crises in the world, we should also point out that these are also happening in Palestine,” Henny said.

‘Constitutional mandate’

Founder Abdillah Onim of the Nusantara Palestine Center, which provides humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip, said that supporting Palestine was a constitutional mandate for all Indonesian.

“It is stated [in the Constitution] that colonialism in the world must be eradicated, meaning that [Indonesians] don’t have to be Muslim to support Palestine. The issue of Palestine is about morality and conscience,” he said.

Middle East director Bagus Hendraning Kobarsyih of the Foreign Ministry said the country had always supported the Palestinian struggle from as early as 1962, when first president Sukarno opposed Israeli participation in the Asian Games that year, hosted in Jakarta.

He added that Indonesia’s foreign policy stance was to support the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling on the international community to stop Israeli violence in Palestine, and urging Israel to stop its aggression and occupation of Palestine territory.

Indonesian support for Palestine also included refusing to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, raising the Palestinian issue at multilateral forums and maintaining bilateral ties and cooperation with Palestine.

“I reiterate that our support for Palestine will not stop. This is unchangeable. We support the two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and the 1967 [lines],” Bagus said. 

Just last week, nine European countries said they were "deeply concerned" by the Israeli government's recent forced closure of several Palestinian NGOs operating in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Thursday it had conducted overnight raids against seven organizations in Ramallah, the West Bank city where the Palestinian Authority's headquarters are located.

"These actions are not acceptable," said a joint statement issued by Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

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