February 14, 2025
JAKARTA – Amid a proposal from United States President Donald Trump to relocate the Gaza Strip’s population to nearby countries, Indonesia and Turkey have reaffirmed their support for an independent and sovereign Palestine, maintaining that the two-state solution is the only feasible path to peace in the Middle East.
It was “not possible” for any Middle Eastern countries to achieve stability until Palestinians found peace, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday after a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto, adding that Ankara was eager to cooperate with Jakarta to rebuild Gaza and advance the Palestinian cause.
Erdogan arrived at Bogor palace in West Java, where he received a ceremonial welcome involving cannon fire and a cadet march. His visit to Indonesia marked the 75th year of Indonesia-Turkey relations.
Despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas agreed to earlier this year, the prospect of lasting peace for Gaza’s 2 million residents seems tenuous, particularly after Donald Trump’s statement about his plans to take control of Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” by permanently relocating its population.
The statement suggesting US ownership of Gaza sent shockwaves around the globe, sparking worldwide condemnation and pushing several countries, including Turkey, a rising regional power in the Middle East, to intensify its international efforts to campaign for the Palestinian cause.
Erdogan’s visit to Jakarta came as the second leg of his three-country tour to campaign for Palestinian rights, a trip that also includes Malaysia and Pakistan.
Following his meeting with Prabowo, where bilateral issues such as economic and defense cooperation were also reportedly discussed, Erdogan said he would “continue to work with Indonesia in rebuilding Gaza and defending the Palestinian issue”.
“Let me underline once again: The establishment of a sovereign, territorially integral state of Palestine, based on the 1967 borders, with East al-Quds as its capital, cannot be delayed any longer,” Erdogan said.
“Any step, any proposal, any project that erodes this is, in our view, illegitimate and means more conflict, more bloodshed and instability,” he continued.
Prabowo, on the other hand, underlined that the two leaders shared the same, longstanding view that the “solution for peace in Palestine is its independence through the two-state solution”.
In the joint statement, the two leaders also urged the reform of global governance institutions “to effectively address international challenges”, in particular the United Nations Security Council, a forum that has in the past year been widely criticized for its ineffective responses to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and enabling Israel’s offensive with few consequences.
The joint statement said Turkey and Indonesia both “rejected any notion of relocating the people of Gaza from their homeland” and condemned “Israel’s military operation against [the] Palestinian population in [the] West Bank [which] undermines the prospects for peace following the Gaza ceasefire agreement”.
The two presidential statements came on the same day Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit similarly rejected Trump’s displacement plan at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, asserting that “we Arabs are not about to capitulate in any way now [after] resisting this for 100 years”.
“The focus today is on Gaza, and tomorrow it will shift to the West Bank with the objective of emptying Palestine of its historical inhabitants,” he said. “It’s unacceptable for the Arab world.”
Despite the strong rejection from around the globe and Washington’s increasingly isolated position in the international community, Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his plan that the US would have authority and “own” Gaza.
“We don’t have to buy. We’re going to have Gaza,” Trump said following his meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II, who visited Washington to urge the former reality TV star to abandon his plan. “We’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it.”
Trump has threatened to halt US aid to Jordan if it refuses to take in Palestinian refugees, a plan that could devastate Amman, as it receives some $750 million in economic assistance and $350 million in military aid from Washington each year.
Following his meeting with the Republican president, King Abdullah wrote on social media reiterating “Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank”.
“This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all,” Abdullah wrote.