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Practice what you preach, Retno tells UNSC nations
“Now I ask: All of these lectures, all these values and standards – do they apply to the Palestinian case?” the foreign minister said.
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Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 23, 2023, amid Israel's siege of the Palestinian enclave. (AFP/Said Khatib)
T
here are rules even in war, and they must be equally and consistently applied, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi reiterated as she concluded a nearly week-long journey in support of a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza war and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid.
Retno was on a diplomatic mission with a handful of top diplomats from influential Muslim-majority nations that was seeking to persuade the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an end to over a month of conflict between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israeli forces.
The delegation headed to China and Russia earlier this week before finishing the tour with meetings with top officials of the United Kingdom and France.
The group of ministers asserted that countries claiming to put great value in international law and humanitarian principles were obligated to use their influence to prevent the application of “double standards” when it came to the condition and rights of the Palestinian people.
On Thursday evening Jakarta time, the ministers concluded their diplomatic mission, undertaken at the request of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League, to jump-start international action to bring about peace in Gaza.
Top officials from Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Nigeria, accompanied by the secretary general of the Arab League, made their case in visits to four of the five permanent Security Council members, excluding the United States.
The group received nods from China and Russia but had to work hard to extract promises from the UK and France, which have sided largely with Israel on the grounds of a right to self-defense.
