Legislators unanimous in condemning Israel

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."