VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian and Palestinian relations have been going on for a long time. Since Indonesia's independence on August 17, 1945, the Palestinians have supported it. But in fact, after World War II when many Asian-African countries gained independence, the Palestinians have lost their land rights to date.

Support for Palestinian independence has been strongly echoed when the Asian-African Conference was held in Bandung, West Java in 1955. Since then, Indonesia has kept sounding its support for Palestinian independence. To further emphasize, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds a Palestinian Solidarity Week which takes place on 13-17 October 2018. This special event held for the Palestinians is increasingly meaningful with the presence of the Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riad Malki in Indonesia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno LP Marsudi in her press release said that the Palestinian Solidarity Week is enlivened by fun walk in Jakarta on Car Free Day, Sunday (14/10), interfaith meetings and dialogue. In addition, there is also the inauguration of Palestine Walk: Road to Freedom in Bandung. All of that is a form of continuity of Indonesia's commitment to Palestine in order to improve the understanding and care of the Indonesian people for the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riad Malki said that the Palestinians are grateful for the efforts made by Indonesia for the realization of Palestinian independence. He also believes that the election of Indonesia as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council –UNSC for the period 2019-2020, sounds not only the aspirations of the Indonesian people but also the Palestinian people. With Indonesia's position as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, according to Riad, the opportunity for the Palestinian people to be independent and free from the Zionist Israeli occupation is getting bigger and more open.

Previously, when receiving the visit of the US Secretary of State, Pompeo in early August 2018, Minister Retno L.P Marsudi reiterated that the rights of life of the Palestinian people must be respected. The independence of a Palestinian state is the main point for the creation of peace in the Middle East. But President of the United States, Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, after meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Natanyahu said that the United States has prepared a peace plan in the Middle East before the end of 2018. One of them is a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

What should be underlined is that the struggle of the Palestinians’ independence is not on the name of one religion, but it involves all the beliefs of the Palestinian people, which has always been a multi-religious society. Hopefully, Indonesia's position as a non-permanent member of the UNSC 2019-2020 will be able to help and smooth the independence of the Palestinian people.