Govt condemns Israel over Arafat

Govt condemns Israel over Arafat

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government condemned Israel on Friday over its plan to
forcefully oust Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and warned that
such a move would only destabilize security conditions in the
region.

It also expressed the country's readiness to mobilize support
from member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference
(OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to oppose the move.

"Indonesia strongly condemns Israel's plan to oust Arafat
because it will only worsen the situation (in the Middle East
country)," spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marty
Natalegawa said on Friday.

Israel's security cabinet vowed on Thursday to "remove" the
Palestinian president, referring to him as "the obstacle to
reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians." And accused
him of backing militant groups in the region.

The statement came following the killing of 15 Israelis
carried out by Hamas militants in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on
Tuesday.

Under U.S. pressure not to exile Arafat, Israel gave no
timeframe for any move against him nor did it make any direct
reference to expelling him.

The Israeli pledge touched off the protest of tens of
thousands of Palestinians.

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Friday that Arafat
had been confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of
Ramallah for the last 20 months.

Arafat had shown defiance and vowed in front of his supporters
that he would stay in the office and lead the Palestinian people
towards peace.

Marty said the government believed that Arafat played a
central role in ensuring the ongoing peace process in the middle
east, especially between Palestinians and Israelis.

"We believe that ousting Arafat will only further push away
efforts to bring peace to the region," Marty said in a weekly
press briefing.

Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim country, has constantly
supported Palestinians and acknowledged the sovereignty of the
country by supporting the Palestinian embassy here.

Indonesia also supported peace efforts dubbed "road map" to
settle the matter, introduced by the United States and European
Union.

Marty said that the matter would likely be discussed in the
coming annual session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly
on Sept. 23.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri is slated to attend the
annual session at the UN headquarters in New York.

A show of support for Arafat was also expressed in many parts
of the world, with the strong statement of the EU underlining
that ousting Arafat would be a "terrible mistake." EU consists of
15 countries.

The Arab league had also issued a similar statement saying
that ousting Arafat would be a disastrous move and would only
hurt the region.

About 80 percent of Indonesia's 215 million people are Muslim.
The government has no diplomatic relations with Israel and has
been a consistent critic of its Palestinian policies.