June 19, 2024
JAKARTA – The Foreign Ministry said that the plan proposed by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto to send an Indonesian peacekeeping force to Gaza can only be carried out if the United Nations mandates it.
Ministry spokesperson Rolliansyah Soemirat said on Monday that the UN so far “has yet to discuss any deployment of peacekeeping operations in Gaza” as UN members are still prioritizing other efforts to bring peace and to implement the recent resolution for a three-phase ceasefire there.
Last week, the UN Security Council adopted a long overdue resolution to reach a ceasefire in Gaza after the United States, a longstanding ally of Israel that has blocked resolutions to recognize a Palestinian state, backed the proposal to end Israel’s eighth month of military operations.
“The deployment of a UN mission, in terms of numbers, composition and type of expertise will always be adjusted to the needs of the field when the time comes,” Rolliansyah said in a press release on Monday.
The idea to send peacekeepers to Gaza was first raised by Prabowo when he attended Asia’s premier security and defense forum – the Shangri-La Dialogue – in Singapore earlier this month, a week before the adoption of the UN resolution.
“When needed and when requested by the UN, we are prepared to contribute significant peacekeeping forces to maintain and monitor this prospective ceasefire as well as to provide protection and security to all parties and to all sides,” Prabowo said in his speech in Singapore.
In response to Prabowo’s readiness to send peacekeepers, Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Agus Subiyanto said that the military would also welcome any civil society organizations to join Indonesia’s peacekeeping mission, especially for health and education purposes.