November 12, 2024
JAKARTA – Deputy Foreign Minister Anis Matta has renewed Indonesia’s call for Palestinian independence and lasting peace in the Middle East.
Anis spoke in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday during a preparatory ministerial meeting for an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League on the following day that would discuss the Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.
“The Palestinian struggle for independence was the basis for the formation of the OIC. That is why we are all [with] Palestinians and we must support the Palestinian cause,” Anis said, as quoted from a press release from the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta.
“We must immediately translate words into concrete actions, including ensuring a sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid for Palestinians,” he added.
Since the conflict in Gaza escalated last year, Indonesia has been making diplomatic efforts to promote a permanent ceasefire and a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, both in bilateral engagements with its partners and through the OIC.
Anis’ presence at the preparatory meeting on Sunday and the subsequent extraordinary summit on Monday reflects Indonesia’s commitment to world peace and President Prabowo Subianto’s goal of helping realize Palestinian independence, the ministry said.
Leaders and top officials of Arab and Muslim countries started arriving in Saudi Arabia on Monday night Jakarta time for the summit, which will focus on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
In the summit, Anis will represent Prabowo, who is in the United States on his maiden overseas tour to several countries after he assumed office last month.
The summit is the second such gathering, after the Jeddah-based OIC and the Cairo-based Arab League met in Riyadh a year ago to discuss the war in Gaza. At the time, leaders of OIC and Arab League countries condemned Israeli forces’ actions in Gaza as “barbaric”, AFP reported.
In the preparatory meeting that was chaired by Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday, foreign ministers discussed a draft resolution to be submitted to the summit on Monday for adoption, according to the OIC website.
In his address at the preparatory meeting, OIC secretary-general Hissein Brahim Taha called on efforts to mobilize international pressure on Israel to end “crimes of genocide” in the Palestinian territories and to refrain from expanding the conflict and destabilizing the region.
Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit earlier said that the summit would represent a vital opportunity for Arab and Islamic countries to rally together and put an end to Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The summit comes as Qatar suspends its role as a key mediator for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in talks.
Qatar has been working alongside the US and Egypt for months on fruitless talks between the warring sides in Gaza. The mediation, which aimed at ending the war that started on Oct. 7 of last year, has so far only achieved a one-week truce, at the end of November 2023.
Both Qatar and Egypt are members of the OIC and the Arab League.
On Sunday, Anis also met his Saudi counterpart Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed Elkhereiji and the two discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in various fields, Saudi Foreign Ministry said on X. (ipa)