REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Hidayat Nur Wahid hopes that President Joko Widodo will maximize momentum when he attends the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh for the repayment of Indonesia's historical debt to Palestine, namely the independence of Palestine.

According to him, Israel's war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli occupation of Palestine as a whole can be ended by rallying the forces of the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Hidayat in a press release received in Jakarta on Sunday, said that the meeting of the OIC Extraordinary Summit in Saudi Arabia on November 12, 2023 is important to provide momentum to maximize Indonesia's struggle and the role of the OIC and its member countries. “President Jokowi needs to appear bolder and more effective than previously done by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia at the OIC meeting in Riyadh, by further criticizing the role of the OIC countries so that they again seriously implement the commitment on the basis of the establishment of the OIC, namely to help the Palestinian struggle to become an independent state,” he said.

According to Hidayat , the background of the formation of this OIC needs to be constantly reminded to its member states, so that with the continuation of Israel's occupation and its war crimes over Palestine/Gaza, that further distances itself from the realization of the ideal of helping Palestine to independence.

“OIC countries that are already normalizing with Israel could be directed to take a political step by withdrawing their ambassadors, or expelling the Israeli ambassador in their country, or severing diplomatic relations with the occupying state of Israel, because the “normalization” carried out again proved to be of no benefit to the realization of the OIC's goal of establishing an independent Palestine,” Hidayat said.

President Jokowi is expected to further strengthen the diplomacy previously conducted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia by ensuring that the heads of state of the OIC can unite to immediately stop the Israeli genocide, open Gaza's borders, maximize humanitarian aid to Gaza, and send peacekeepers.

Even better if Indonesia pioneered intensive cooperation with countries such as Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, South Africa that broke diplomatic relations or withdrew their ambassadors from Israel.

“Realizing this cooperation and collaboration is of great importance, so that the OIC can realize the goal of its formation, which is to free Palestine from Israeli colonization,” he said.

Some OIC countries have indeed taken the firm stance of correcting their relations with Israel, such as Turkey, Jordan and Bahrain which not only withdrew their ambassadors, but also stopped economic cooperation with Israel, that is all to be appreciated.

“If the 57-member OIC, or the second largest world organization after the United Nations, imposes' sanctions' on Israel by severing diplomatic relations and not resuming economic cooperation of any kind, it will certainly be effective to correct the continuing crimes of Israeli colonization, stop the humanitarian tragedy and holocaust in Gaza, and will have an impact on the possibility of bringing closer the realization of the goal of the founding of the OIC, which is an independent Palestine,” he said.

Moreover, Hidayat explains, President Jokowi has also expressed a call to boycott Israeli products at the OIC summit in Jakarta in 2016. “The call for economic boycott needs to be revoiced and concretized into the decision of the OIC summit. And it can begin with the attitude of the Indonesian Government to stop the economic or export-import cooperation with Israel that is still going on today. It would also be effective to stop Israel's colonization and the independence of Palestine if oil and gas producing countries no longer export their oil and gas to Israel,” he said.

In addition, Hidayat also reminded President Jokowi about the Israeli blind attack that targeted the headquarters of the Indonesian peacekeeping army in Lebanon. Also the attack on Indonesian Hospital in Gaza by the occupation force with the false claim that the hospital contain Hamas infrastructure. 

“And it is important to ensure that there are concrete results in the form of uniting the OIC with the countries that support Palestine/Gaza, including China and Russia, and effectively communicate with the United States so that they stop supporting Israel, so that Indonesia's historical debt can be repaid with the independence of Palestine,” he concluded.

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