JakartaPost-Aug 4, 2024
Former vice president Jusuf Kalla paid his last respects to Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh at his funeral in Doha, Qatar, on Friday and called for an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict during his visit. Haniyeh was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hamas. In a video shared by Kalla’s side, the former vice president joined the funeral prayer procession for Haniyeh at Qatar’s largest mosque, Imam Abdul Wahhab, in Doha and attended his burial at Luseil, north of Doha, alongside Haniyeh’s family, Hamas officials and political figures from Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia. “This [gathering of many people] shows that we all support the Palestinian struggle as well as the effort to resolve the conflict [between Palestine and Israel] fairly,” Kalla said in a separate video statement. Kalla, who served twice as vice president of Indonesia, under different presidents, was accompanied at the funeral by Din Syamsuddin, a former chairman of one of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organizations, Muhammadiyah; former law and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin; and Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar Ridwan Hassan. Haniyeh had been based in Doha before his death. On Friday evening after attending the funeral, Kalla met Mahmoud al-Aloul, the deputy chairman of the Palestinian political party Fatah and a representative of Fatah in an accord with Palestinian organizations, including rival Hamas, to work together for “national unity” that was brokered by China on July 23. Kalla told al-Aloul that it was “important for both parties to unify” to achieve international support for Palestine, according to a press release. Al-Aloul reportedly expressed his readiness to do so if Hamas did not prioritize the formation of a joint government in Palestine. Haniyeh’s death has elicited a long list of condolences from global leaders, including President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who condemned the killing as “intolerable” on Thursday. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2024/08/04/former-vp-jusuf-kalla-attends-hamas-leaders-funeral-calls-for-end-to-gaza-war.html.
