Ties with Israel possible: Legislators<\/p>\n
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
For Indonesia, establishing full diplomatic ties with Israel will
\nonly be possible after peace has been reached between Israel and
\nPalestine, lawmakers have asserted.<\/p>\n
Ties with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation,
\nare important to Israel, particularly with the latter appearing
\nto be moving toward ending its decades-long dispute with
\nneighboring Palestine, a majority Muslim nation itself.<\/p>\n
So speculation was high when foreign minister Hassan
\nWirayuda secretly met with his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom
\nahead of the UN General Assembly last week, with some saying that
\nIndonesia might be moving toward establishing diplomatic
\nrelations with Israel.<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono affirmed on Sunday that the
\nmeeting was intended to further the achievement of full
\nindependence for Palestine.<\/p>\n
Members of the House of Representatives foreign affairs
\ncommission have expressed their support for such approaches but
\nbalk at the idea of establishing full ties for the time being.<\/p>\n
\"Until things work out between Israel and Palestine, where
\nIsrael is the aggressor and is occupying Palestinian land, then
\nwe cannot consider having diplomatic ties with Israel,\" said
\nUntung Wahono, chairman of the Islam-based Prosperous Justice
\nParty (PKS) faction in the House, on Monday.<\/p>\n
In order to gain PKS support, President Susilo had promised
\nthe party that no diplomatic ties with Israel would be
\nestablished until Palestine was fully independent, Untung
\nrecalled.<\/p>\n
The House's approval is mandatory for the establishment of
\ndiplomatic relations with a foreign country.<\/p>\n
Tough terms were also set by Sutradara Gintings of the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Moh. Hatta of
\nthe Golkar Party.<\/p>\n
\"Full diplomatic ties are hardly feasible until after Israel
\nand Palestine make peace,\" said Sutradara.<\/p>\n
A trade or cultural mission pending full relations could be
\nconsidered, but the focus should be on having full and good
\nrelations with all nations of the world that respect each other's
\nsovereignty.<\/p>\n
Hatta said that the Palestinian question was one of several issues
\nthat Israel needed to resolve first, especially with the Arab
\ngovernments, before striving for normal ties with non-Arab Muslim
\nnations.<\/p>\n
\"It would actually be easier for us to decide by seeing how
\nthe Arab states respond to Israel. The whole process really
\ndepends on Israel itself,\" Hatta said.<\/p>\n
On the establishment of ties that fell short of full
\ndiplomatic relations, the former Golkar faction chairman said
\nthis would have to be thoroughly discussed.<\/p>\n
\"We don't want to have full trade with Israel but lose what we
\nhave with the Arab states,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The three legislators agreed that the Israel-Palestine
\nquestion was different from the U.S.\/Britain-Iraq\/Afghanistan
\nsituations.<\/p>\n
\"Israel arbitrarily seized Palestinian land, but the U.S. did
\nnot do so with Iraqi land,\" argued Untung.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ties-with-israel-possible-legislators-1447893297",
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