Indonesia insists Israel goes back to peace talks

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government insists that all countries with clout should encourage Israel to resume peace talks and stop building settlements in East Jerusalem.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said yesterday that Indonesia was very concerned by the violence around Jerusalem, which could lead to more bloodshed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Washington recently that he would never yield to demands to stop building settlements.

Indonesia would always support the Palestinians and insist that Israel abide by its earlier peace agreement with the Palestinians.

The Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting in New Delhi this week supported the Palestinians' struggle. The meeting demanded that all diplomatic and trade relationships with Israel stop and that other sanctions be introduced to force Israel to comply with the land-for-peace agreement.

On Abdurrahman Wahid's entry to the Shimon Peres Institute, Alatas said "as an individual he can always join any non- governmental organization". Abdurrahman is the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization.

"However, we must be wary that his acceptance is not manipulated by the Israelis as if Indonesia had already established a diplomatic relationship with the Jewish state," Alatas said.

He said that, when some Indonesian journalists had accepted an invitation from the Israeli government to go there a few years ago, the Israeli press had described it as the first step towards diplomatic relations.

On the Indonesian Committee for Moslem Solidarity's (KISDI) plan to set up an anti-Zionist task force here, the minister said he knew nothing about it.

"KISDI is a non-governmental organization. It is their right to undertake any activity and the government cannot prevent it."

Alatas said the government should wait and see what comes of Abdurrahman's and KISDI's plans.

"Now is not the time for us to comment on that," he said. (12)