Govt backs down on Israel trade ties
Govt backs down on Israel trade ties
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday back-
pedaled on his plan to open trade links with Israel, saying that
he would only move forward after deep and lengthy studies.
"I will have to study it first," Abdurrahman said during an
unprecedented policy debate with the House of Representatives.
"This will be a long process," he added.
The plan to open trade ties with the Jewish state, revealed by
the President only a day after his Oct. 20 election, has been
widely criticized as an affront to the Muslim population.
A number of DPR members raised their objections during a
debate which was originally called to discuss the closures of the
Ministry of Information and Ministry of Social Services.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab confirmed afterwards
the government's decision to delay opening trade ties with Israel
"until such a time is possible."
"The plan was really an appeal. It was never a government
policy," Alwi told reporters after attending the policy debate.
He also assured the reporters that the government would only
move forward in consultation with the House.
The President, a prominent Muslim scholar, had said that
having commercial ties with Israel would give Indonesia, the
world's largest Muslim country, a leverage to lobby the Jewish
state in the peace process in the Middle East.
Alwi had also argued that commercial ties with Israel would
give Indonesia access to Jewish-controlled American corporations
and could therefore help in Jakarta's efforts in drawing foreign
investors back to Indonesia.
The original plan had called for an immediate exchange of
trade delegations between Indonesia and Israel.
The proposal was a major departure for Indonesia's long
standing policy regarding Israel, which was to insist on Israel's
compliance with all the UN's Security Council resolutions,
including the return of all Arab lands occupied since after the
1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Both Abdurrahman and Alwi have said Indonesia would never open
diplomatic ties with Israel until the Palestinian and the entire
Middle East conflict was resolved.
Yasril Ananta Maharuddin, the chairman of the House's
Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs, confirmed
that Alwi had informed him of the decision.
"He told me that the government would suspend the
establishment of trade ties with Israel until conditions
permitted them," Yasril said.
"The bottom line is relations won't be established now," he
said, adding: "Hopefully, this will end the polemic in the
public." (02/emb)