Our main responsibility is to save lives. And every minute we spend here to negotiate can mean the loss of other Palestinians’ lives.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has underscored the significance of the UN role in ensuring the safety and welfare of Palestinians amid Israeli air attacks on Gaza.

Speaking before the UN General Assembly specifically discussing the latest situation in Palestine and the Middle East, Marsudi pressed for immediately halting violence and declaring a ceasefire to save the lives of innocent people, including women and children.

“Stop violence and military action to prevent more victims,” the minister remarked at the meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday, as monitored through the UN official website.

To ensure a sustainable ceasefire, Indonesia has demanded that the UN General Assembly call for an international presence in Al-Quds or Jerusalem to monitor and ensure the safety of Palestinians in the occupied territories as well as to protect the status of Al-Haram Al-Sharif as the holy site of three religions.

The Indonesian foreign minister also appealed to the UN General Assembly and other UN agencies to urge Israel to open and allow access to humanitarian aid deliveries for Palestinians, including in Gaza, which has become a target of Israeli air strikes in the past 10 days.

“Our main responsibility is to save lives. And every minute we spend here to negotiate can mean the loss of other Palestinians’ lives,” she emphasized.

Marsudi further encouraged the UN to ensure credible multilateral negotiations to promote just and comprehensive peace based on a “two-state solution” and internationally agreed parameters.

To this end, the minister called on the international community to stop the systematic efforts of the occupying forces that may leave no room for any negotiation.

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“We must ensure that the Palestinian people are no longer left with the choice of accepting injustice throughout their lives. Hence, we must stop this injustice right now,” she stressed.

Describing colonization as a main problem in the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine, the minister stressed Indonesia’s commitment to staying united in its efforts against all illegal actions of Israel.

“The international community owes to Palestine, a long-delayed independent state, to co-exist peacefully and at par with us,” she affirmed.

“Israel’s continued occupation and aggression is not only worth denouncing but also is a gross violation of international law that demands actions from us all,” she stated.

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Translator: Yashinta Difa P/Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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