Trade ties with Israel?

Trade ties with Israel?

According to a statement from the newly sworn-in Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Indonesia will open trade ties with Israel for
the sake of economic reasons (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 3, 1999).
Foreign minister Alwi Shihab also stated that ties with Israel
are needed to help further the Palestinian cause. In a television
talk show about a month before election day, KH Abdurrahman
Wahid, now the President, also said Israel is a country of faith,
so ties with it are more reasonable than with Russia, which is
known as an atheist country.

I would like to give some comments on our leaders' statements
that we read and listened to from the mass media. Although we
know that both prominent leaders are internationally recognized
intellectuals, I am sure that everybody might make one or more
mistakes in their life. The same goes for President Abdurrahman
Wahid and foreign minister Alwi. I believe that the plan to
establish trade relations with Israel is a mistake. It will be
better if they do not realize it.

To be honest, the reasons for opening Indonesia-Israel ties
are far from the truth. Of course, Jewish lobbies can give us
economic benefits as their network can help increase investment
in Indonesia, particularly from the West. But as Prophet Muhammad
said, Muslims can be depicted as a human body which will suffer
from fever if any part of it becomes in pain. How can we benefit
as Palestinians are hunted, intimidated and killed by Jewish
soldiers? Besides, economic benefits that will be earned by
Israel may be used to buy guns and ammunition, which will be used
for killing Palestinians. So how could we open trade ties with
Israel at the cost of our brothers' pain?

Foreign minister Alwi also said even Prophet Muhammad traded
with the Jews. The prophet's history shows that the trade
relationship was not as simple as the minister's thoughts, as the
Jews obeyed the prophet's rule to maintain peace in the city of
Madinah. But since Israel's independence day, the Jews have been
oppressing the Palestinians and have not been meeting with the
same conditions in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza.

GUNAWAN SETIYAJI

Malang, East Java