RI condemns Israel's killing of Rantissi

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim populous nation, strongly condemned on Sunday Israel's assassination of top Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, saying it clearly demonstrated the Jewish state's lack of commitment toward the ongoing Middle East peace process.

"Israel has once again ... disregarded international law and world opinion by carrying out the unspeakable murder and political assassination, which the Indonesian government condemns in the strongest terms," Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty A. Natalegawa told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Israel killed Rantissi and two of his bodyguards on Saturday in an air strike on his car as it drove near his house in the Sheik Radwan neighborhood in Gaza.

"Unfortunately, the Israeli action reaffirmed what has been obvious; namely, its lack of commitment to the peace process in the Middle East," Marty said.

He said that the killing could cause a surge in violence and make peace more difficult to achieve through talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Riza Sihbudi -- a respected scholar who is an authority on Middle East affairs -- said Israel's assassination of Rantissi showed that both U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were not serious about the Middle East peace process.

"Condemning is not enough. As long as Bush and Sharon are in power, we can't hope for too much from the peace process in the Middle East," he told the Post, adding that Bush's endorsement of Sharon's proposal on retaining Jewish settlements in the West Bank had further confirmed the lack of seriousness about the peace process on the part of the U.S.

Riza, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), called on Islamic nations to respond immediately to recent developments in the Middle East and initiate concrete action.

"What we need now is concrete action from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The organization must fully support all the efforts to create peace in the Middle East," Riza told the Post.

The 57-nation OIC, according to Riza, could impose a boycott on the United States for its policies both in Iraq and the Middle East conflict.

Malaysia, the current leader of the OIC, said on Friday that it would hold an OIC foreign ministers meeting on April 22 to discuss increasing violence in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The killing came just three days after a meeting between Bush and Sharon in Washington.

Bush, a close ally of Israel, endorsed on Wednesday Israeli plans to retain Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Indonesia reacted strongly to Bush's endorsement amid fears that it would further sabotage the already-fragile peace process in the Middle East.

Rantissi was killed less than a month after the Israeli army assassinated Sheikh Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, also in air strike in Gaza city.

The Indonesian government earlier condemned the murder of Yassin and asking the UN to put pressure on Israel to ensure it was held accountable for the assassination.