Legislators unanimous in condemning Israel
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legislators here condemned on Tuesday Israel's siege of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, the West Bank, but could not come up with any concrete suggestions on how to put an end to the Palestine-Israel war.
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais said on Tuesday that the attacks clearly showed the true nature of Israel as an aggressor state.
"The government has to show its firm stance against Israel," Amien said after installing Rahimullah as the Assembly's new secretary general on Tuesday.
However, Amien, a former lecturer on Middle East studies, did not elaborate on what kind of firm actions Indonesia could take.
Golkar legislator Iris Indira Murti, who is also a member of the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I in charge of foreign affairs, urged both Palestine and Israel to return to the negotiating table.
Fellow legislator Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party (PAN) asserted that as long as the U.S. continues to back Israel, peace efforts were bound to fail.
Israel launched its isolation operation against Arafat early Friday after a devastating suicide bomber attack that killed 22 Israelis as they were beginning their Passover observance. The Passover is one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.
The government condemned on Monday the Israeli attacks on Palestine, claiming that the operation had threatened the life of Arafat and also dashed hopes for peace in the Middle East.
"Israel is held responsible for the safety of Palestinian leader Arafat. Indonesia underscores the key role of Arafat in the peace process in the Middle East and rejects the latest attempt by Israel to deny Arafat's role," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday.
Efforts to bring the two warring parties back to the negotiating table have stalled as both sides insist on their own terms. Israel has pressed Arafat to stop the suicide bombings against Israeli civilians by Palestinians as a prerequisite for negotiation, while Palestinian leaders insist that the issues of Palestinian land and statehood, including the Jewish settlements in the West Bank be part of the negotiation agenda before they stop the suicide attacks.
In the most recent suicide attacks, a powerful bomb exploded in a crowded restaurant in Haifa on Sunday, killing at least 12 diners and wounding 30 others. Thirty-two people were hurt in another suicide bombing Saturday in a Tel Aviv restaurant. An attack on a crowded Jerusalem supermarket by a 16-year-old Palestinian girl on Friday killed two people and wounded at least 20 others.
Vice President Hamzah Haz condemned Israel's military aggression on Tuesday and sent a special message to express Indonesia's support for Arafat.
The letter was presented to Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Ribhi Awad who came to see Hamzah to update the Vice President on the latest developments in Ramallah.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Ambassador Awad said that Palestinian people were grateful to Indonesia's continued support for his country's cause.
Chairman of Indonesia's biggest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Hasyim Muzadi also condemned on Tuesday the Israeli military operation.
"As part of the world's Muslim brotherhood -- and also of this country, we condemn the Israeli's attacks," Hasyim said.
Hasyim also actually warned the United States to remain neutral in the Middle East conflict by pointing out that a U.S. stance favoring Israel would create resistance from the world's Muslim countries.
Separately, President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) expressed similar condemnation against Israel's incursion into Palestinian territory.
"Our party shares the stance taken by the government condemning Israel's attack on Ramallah," Arifin Panigoro, PDI Perjuangan chairman of the Assembly said after the party's weekly meeting on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, two radical Muslim groups here are preparing to recruit young Muslim fighters to go to Palestine to fight against Israeli forces.
The Islamic Youth Movement (GPI) chairman Suaib Didu said on Tuesday that GPI was scheduled to open registration on Friday for the recruitment of Indonesian Muslim youths to be sent to Palestine.
"Recruits who have no basic skills will be provided with special physical and mental trainings for about two or three months, while trained recruits would be sent immediately to Palestine," Suaib told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Suaib said his group has eight major training camps, five of them are located in Indonesia, while the rest are overseas. He refused to disclose the locations of those camps.
"The camps are like stages... after the fifth stage, they go abroad for training. The visas and travel fees of the recruits will be arranged," Suaib said.
The leader of the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) Jafar Sidiq said that FPI had opened registration for recruitment on Tuesday. "We will of course need to lobby other countries like Syria to give access to our potential fighters after they train overseas," Jafar told the Post.
"FPI and GPI sent fighters to Afghanistan. So we have no problems to send fighters to the Palestine, to defend our Muslim brothers there."