RI Needs To Take Firm Diplomatic Steps On Israeli – Palestinian Issue

Padang, W Sumatra ( Berita ) :  Indonesia needs to take a firm diplomatic step on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which has been going on for six days and claimed many lives, a legislatorsaid.

“It is not enough for Indonesia to only condemn the Israeli air strikes on Palestine. It has to take a diplomatic step as well to speed up  the settlement of the conflict,” Slamet Effendie Yusuf of the House of Representatives (DPR)’s Commission I which deals with foreign affairs, said here on Monday.

He said that the firm diplomatic steps Indonesia needs to  take included summoning the United States ambassador to Indonesia to ask for clarification of President W Bush’s recent statement that the Israeli air strikes needed to be followed by  land attacks.

“The government should ask what Bush really meant in his statement that Israel’s military onslaught against Palestine needs to be intensified,” he said.

He said that with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Indonesian government was not yet able to take a firm stance whereas so far it had been consistent with its efforts to build  peace in the region and independence for Palestine. “The government should not be halfhearted in this case,” he said.

Yusuf said that in the conflict which broke out after the end of the  truce last December, Israel was viewed to have misled the international world because its attacks were mostly aimed at  public facilities and killed many Palestinian civilians.”It is a massive wanton attack aimed at civilians,” he said.

He also wished that  Hamas should be dropped from the list of terrorist organizations because the aim of Hamas and Fatah was merely to create an independent Palestine.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the Indonesian government was ready to send its best sons as part of a peace monitoring team in the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire was achieved in the conflict-torn region.

“If the United Nations and the international community agree to deploy a  monitoring team, Indonesia is prepared  to send its best sons to be part of the team,” he said after receiving Palestinian ambassador to Indonesia Fariz Mehdevi at his office.  ( ant )