"Indonesia's position has not changed and remains firmly in support of Palestinian independence within the framework of the two-state solution," said Iqbal in a statement received in Jakarta on Thursday (11/4/2024).
Previously, an Israeli-based media The Times of Israel on Thursday wrote about the discourse on opening diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Israel. The media reported from an undisclosed source that as a medium of exchange in realizing diplomatic ties between Indonesia and Israel, Jerusalem would stop blocking Indonesia's efforts to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The Times of Israel also wrote that official Israeli officials had confirmed this. Meanwhile, another Israeli media Ynet News reported that Israel and Indonesia had been discussing normalizing relations between the two countries for three months.
"Indonesia will always be consistent and be at the forefront of defending the rights of the Palestinian people," said Iqbal.
Lalu Muhammad Iqbal said that Indonesia's membership process in the OECD would take quite a long time. In fact, according to him, some countries took up to five years to complete the full OECD membership process.
"The membership roadmap is planned to be adopted next May, and in that roadmap there are many things that Indonesia must prepare," he explained.
Indonesia often voices support for Palestinian independence, based on the country's constitutional mandate which "rejects all forms of colonialism on earth". For this reason, Indonesia also often criticizes Israel, which is still suppressing Palestine. To date, the number of Palestinians who have died as a result of the Israel-Hamas war has reached more than 33,000 people.