U.S. urged to end Israeli attack

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian government urged the United States on Sunday to be consistent regarding the current Middle East crisis by forcing Israel to immediately halt its attacks on Palestine.

Speaking in a meeting with U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick on Sunday, Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda insisted that the U.S. take firmer measures in bringing peace back to the Middle East.

"We informed them of the increasing rejection of Israel's military aggression and we urged the U.S. to keep their word and use all their influence to force Israel to pull out their troops from Palestine," Hassan said after the meeting.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will arrive in Ramallah on Monday for a meeting with President Arafat, as part of U.S. efforts to restore peace in the Middle East and to make Israel comply with the UN resolutions on the issue.

"We highlighted the importance of the U.S. helping to enforce UN resolution 1402. We expect the U.S. to take more concrete actions to convince Israel to abide by the resolution," Hassan said, referring to the resolution issued recently in New York demanding "meaningful cease-fire" in the Middle East.

However, Hassan said that in the meeting, Zoellick, who had once met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, expressed doubts over the prospect of peace negotiations, saying it would be difficult to persuade Sharon to stop the attacks.

Israel's incursion into Palestinian land and the isolation of President Arafat at his compound in Ramallah has provoked anti- Israel and anti-America demonstrations worldwide.

There have been continual rallies of solidarity for the Palestinian people here and the government has repeatedly condemned the Israeli attacks.

Hassan said Indonesia will continue to join the UN in finding other measures to uphold peace in the Middle East, through a series of meetings in UN headquarters in New York and Geneva.

"On Friday, in Geneva, the UN issued another resolution to send a human rights team to Palestine to keep track of the human rights abuses that have happened in the disputed area," Hassan remarked.

Commenting on the widespread rallies across Indonesia, Hassan said that the movement expressed the common stance shared between the government and people in supporting the Palestinian cause.

"The strong widespread support from both the people and the government will let the world know that we are solid in our support for the Palestinian people and such a fact should be taken seriously," he said.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, was among the first countries to acknowledge Palestine as an independent state. Jakarta has no diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.

Hassan said unlike several other Arab countries, Indonesia will never acknowledge Israel until it recognizes an independent Palestinian state.

Some 1,000 supporters of the Muslim-based Justice Party (PK) gathered at the National Monument (Monas) square on Sunday to express their support for the Palestinian people's fight against Israel.

Some Muslim figures, including chairman of the Indonesian Committee for World Muslim Solidarity (KISDI) Abdul Rasyid Abdullah Syafi'i, secretary-general of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) Adi Sasono, secretary- general of the Indonesian Islamic Propagation Council (DDII) Husein Umar, attended the mass prayer led by PK chairman Hidayat Nurwahid.

Clad in white Muslim clothes and waving the national flags of Indonesia and Palestine, the crowd called on the Palestinian people to continue their struggle, popularly called intifadah.

Some of the participants burnt an Israeli flag, but speakers on the podium managed to persuade them to restore order.

After the mass prayer, the PK supporters braved the rain to march through the main streets around the square.