This was conveyed by Riyad Al-Maliki in a discussion held by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) and the Palestinian Embassy in Jakarta, Tuesday (20/8).
Al-Maliki explained that the previous US administration, led by Donald Trump, had facilitated the redesign of the agreement to normalize relations between Arab countries and Israel. At that time, the move was taken to pressure Israel, so that Palestine would achieve independence.
“That was about five years ago, maybe? But I don't see any results from normalizing relations between countries with Israel that would result in ending the suffering of the Palestinian people, ending the occupation or even allowing the Palestinian people to gain freedom and independence,” Al-Maliki said.
He added that in 2002 the Arab Peace Initiative was held, with the condition that Israel must withdraw its occupation of Palestine and several areas in Arab countries. Then those countries will open diplomatic relations with Israel.
“So the conditions are very clear, if Israel ends the occupation of Palestine and the Arab states of the territories, then the Arabs will respond by normalizing relations with Israel,” he said.
However, Al-Maliki argued that this method was used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convince the Arabs that Palestine did not need independence at all. He considered that if the Arabs had diplomatic relations with Israel, without resolving the Palestinian issue first, it is certain that the Arabs would not prioritize the Palestinian issue, and that is what Netanyahu wanted to show the Arab world.
“So, Indonesia must be very careful. Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world, and Israel sees Indonesia as a symbol of the largest Islamic country in the world that is normalizing relations with Israel, without the need for Israel to withdraw the occupation of Palestinian land and allow the Palestinians to achieve their freedom and independence. You (Indonesia) must be very careful,” he said.
According to Al-Maliki, it is very clear that Israel must withdraw completely from Palestine and the land of several Arab countries. That way there will be no problem, either for Indonesia or other Muslim countries in the world to normalize relations with Israel, of course if they want, he said.
“Because there may be countries that do not want to normalize relations with Israel after Israel withdraws. Again, there is no reason to prevent Arab countries or Islamic countries from doing so if they want to do so. But the conditions are very clear, we adhere to the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002, that Israel must first withdraw from all occupied Palestinian and Arab territories and then, normalization will happen, not before,” he stressed.
On this occasion, Al-Maliki also mentioned Netanyahu's goal of expanding the war into a regional war involving the United States. He believes that Netanyahu wants to make Gaza an uninhabitable buffer state, to then integrate it into the West Bank.
Al-Maliki stressed that the Palestinian people must remain in their territory. He said that Palestine could not fight Israel's military power, but if we look at a broader perspective beyond just the military context, Al-Maliki is confident that Palestine will be able to achieve victory.
“And that’s why it’s so important. Resilience is important for the Palestinian people. Staying on the land regardless of what Israel does. It’s important to stay because staying there, on your land, in your home despite the possibility of survival is resistance in itself,” he said.
International Relations observer from Padjajaran University (Unpad), Teuku Rezasyah, agrees that Indonesia must be careful in deciding this matter.
Interviewed by VOA, Rezasyah said Indonesia has certainly learned a lot from various references, namely countries in the Middle East that have diplomatic relations with Israel. These countries, he said, initially thought that having diplomatic relations would allow them to pressure Israel to hasten Palestinian independence.
“But it turns out that many countries such as Turkey and Egypt are disappointed because Israel promised that diplomatic relations would accelerate Palestinian independence, but it didn't. Even these countries… on-off, on-offopen-close, open-close,” said Reza.
“So Indonesia learned from experience that Israel is hard to trust. So even if diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Israel are opened, there are certainly conditions that must be met by Israel and Palestine themselves,” he added.
Palestine, said Reza, must be able to prove that they are a qualified country, as required by international law. “So, Indonesia's hopes are actually focused on Israel and Palestine because if they are not careful, Palestine will be recognized as a country but will not be stable, that is the first condition where Palestine must be stable. Second, Israel must be clear, where are the boundaries of Palestine? As far as I know, the UN resolution requires a return to the boundaries in 1967, this must also be obeyed by Israel that the boundaries are those that were set in 1967,” he said.
Furthermore, Reza revealed that if Palestine can prove that they can become a quality country, and Israel seriously complies with all orders of the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council, then Indonesia can consider opening diplomatic relations with Israel. Of course, this must be consulted first with the DPR.
“For Indonesia, we are aware that Israel really hopes for two countries to open diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, and Indonesia is aware that in this matter we cannot be played by anyone, Indonesia has a personal assessment because it must be consulted with the wider community, because our community is already very antipathetic towards Israel,” he explained.
Reza also agreed with what Al-Maliki said about the Palestinian people who must remain in their land forever. This is a minimum requirement for a country, where there must be residents living there. If everyone leaves their land, it means that Palestine can no longer be called a country.
Based on current international law, the requirements for a country to be established are territory, population, the ability to manage the country and a quality government.
“So Israel is trying to make sure that those four items are gone, if possible, reduced day by day, and Israel can't do anything if for example certain countries recognize Palestine as a country, like Indonesia. So they have to survive, at all costs, it's sad that they don't have electricity, no water, and then food is hard to get in. But that is the price of independence, there must be, the remnants of Palestinian representation,” Reza explained. (gi/ns)
