JakartaPost-Feb 23
Indonesia called on the G20 to play a collective role in pushing for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, de-escalating global tensions and preventing further alarm. Israel’s 138-day military campaign in the Gaza Strip “goes beyond any logic of justification”, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi proclaimed on Thursday, ahead of an audience with a top United Nations court to voice Indonesia’s objections to the occupation and push for more action. At a meeting of Group of 20 foreign ministers in Brazil, Foreign Minister Retno LP decried the “geopolitical nightmare” in the occupied Palestinian territory, where “residents face the threat of genocide and live in the hell of Israeli cruelty”. The minister called on the G20 to play a collective role in pushing for a permanent cease-fire “with haste and by any means necessary”, to drop the double standards that applied to the Gaza siege but not to other conflicts and to de-escalate global tensions and prevent further alarm. Her call for a cease-fire comes just before the next leg of her overseas trip, to The Hague in the Netherlands, where she is slated to present Indonesia’s perspective on Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It also comes after another failed attempt at the UN Security Council to act on Israel’s conduct in Gaza. The initiative was vetoed by the United States’ representative and roundly criticized at the G20 meeting led by Brazil. In what has been dubbed one of the most pivotal moments in the decades-long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian enclaves, over 50 countries, including Indonesia, are scheduled to present their views on the issue at the ICJ advisory hearing from Feb. 19 to 26. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2024/02/23/indonesia-decries-geopolitical-nightmare-ahead-of-icj-appeal.html.
