Palestine asks RI to play key role in peace process
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Palestine has asked Indonesia and other major Asian countries to help boost the peace process in the Middle East territory, which continues to volatile.
Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nabeel Shaath said here on Saturday that countries like Indonesia, China, Japan, India and Malaysia could help in ending the prolonged conflict in the Middle East because of their strong influence and good relations with countries both in the region and outside it.
"These are the major countries that have direct relations with the process, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, China and Japan have at least the interest, and some of them like China, Japan and India have sent peace envoys to participate in the Middle East peace process," Shaath told a media conference on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit.
Palestine was the only participant not to actually constitute a state among the 89 countries that attended the two-day summit.
After assuming the presidency last year, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia, being the world's largest majority-Muslim nation, had to play a key role in the Middle East peace process.
Shaath said he had asked President Susilo to appoint a permanent envoy to deal with the peace process in the Middle East.
In response to the Palestinian question, Asian and African leaders attending the summit reconfirmed their full support for the Palestinian people as shown in their final declaration on the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership.
"We express our abhorrence that 50 years since the 1955 Bandung Conference, the Palestinian people remain deprived of their right to independence. We remain steadfast in our support for the Palestinian people and the creation of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions," says the declaration, which was signed in Bandung on Sunday during the ceremonies marking the golden jubilee of the original Asian-African Conference.
Asian and African countries have persistently demanded independence for Palestine from Israel's occupation.
Although Israeli-Palestinian violence has dropped off sharply since Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a truce in early February, incidents persist.
At a checkpoint near the West Bank town of Nablus on Friday, Israeli soldiers caught a Palestinian carrying four explosive devices. At the Hawara junction, also near Nablus, soldiers caught a Palestinian trying to smuggle small-arms bullets into Israel hidden in video cassette tapes.
Abbas and Sharon are to meet soon to discuss the overall security situation, the Gaza pullout, Israeli settlement activities, and the implementation of recent understandings between the two sides, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.