As long as the freedom of Palestine is yet to be returned to the Palestinians, Indonesia will forever stand in defiance against the occupation by IsraelBogor, W Java (ANTARA) - The Gaza ceasefire agreement brought to an end the eleven days of war between Israel and Palestine that sparked a global outpouring of support for the Palestinian nation.
The ceasefire agreement, which came into force in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday, was applauded by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and US President Joe Biden.
According to Aljazeera, several Palestinians in the besieged territory greeted the Egyptian-brokered truce by waving Palestinian flags and flashing the V-sign for victory.
During the 11-day war, Palestinian fighters amassed their arsenal of rockets to attack Israel, while the Jewish state's military forces bombarded Gaza.
The air and artillery bombardments that the Israeli Defense Forces brutally launched in the besieged Gaza Strip destroyed scores of residential buildings.
The Israeli attacks, in which the Gaza tower housing the AP and Aljazeera offices were also destroyed, had resulted in the deaths of at least 219 Palestinians, including 63 children.
The IDF's brutal bombardments had also inflicted injuries to some 1,500 Palestinians, while the rockets that the Gaza fighters launched to various Israeli cities claimed at least 12 lives.
In the wake of the gruesome situation in the Gaza Strip, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called it a "hell on earth".
"If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza," Guterres was quoted by the UN News as saying on Thursday.
Indeed, Israel's aggressions and land grabbing on the Palestinians' motherland have never ended since this Jewish state existed with the help of the United Kingdom in 1948.
The latest war also erupted after the Israeli security personnel attacked worshippers in Al Aqsa Mosque in the midst of forced evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, in the final days of the holy month of Ramadhan.
In response to this Jewish state's brutal attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque and ongoing land grabbing, Hamas launched its retaliatory strikes in its endeavors to defend the mosque that Muslims regard as their third holiest site after Mecca and Medina and the dignity of Palestinians.
Several peace-loving nations condemned Israel over its brutal ways of responding to Hamas' rocket attacks in retaliation of the Jewish state's attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque and land grabbing.
However, as usual, the US Government consistently defended Tel Aviv as its envoy at the United Nations kept blocking the UN resolutions against Israel.
Indonesia condemns Israel’s actions in Palestine's occupied homeland and besieged Gaza Strip.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has vociferously denounced the use of force against Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He also criticized the forced evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah.
"The forced evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, and the use of force against Palestinian civilians at Al-Aqsa Mosque should not be ignored. Indonesia condemns these actions," Widodo posted on his Twitter account @jokowi following the Israeli action.
The head of state also highlighted that Indonesia has urged the UN Security Council to act swiftly on repeated violations committed by Israel.
Prior to the Egyptian-brokered truce, which has halted the 11-day war between Israel and Palestine since the early hours of Friday, international communities had united to defend Palestine as marked by a string of protests around the world in the past week.
Joining in this global outpouring of support for Palestine, several hundred Indonesians staged a peaceful rally in front of the US embassy in Jakarta on May 18, 2021, demanding an end to Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
Initiated by the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), the rally called on US President Biden to take immediate steps to end the "Israeli brutality" that had led to casualties in the war in the Gaza Strip.
Not only labor unionists and workers but also university students, youngsters, and members of multi-faith communities partook in the demonstration, initiated by the KSPI.
Sariat Arifia, an activist with the Al Azhar Solidarity for Palestine, told ANTARA that he joined the rally in front of the US embassy compound in Central Jakarta since it was a democratic way to fulfill the mandate of the Preamble to Indonesia's 1945 Constitution.
According to the Preamble, "freedom is the inalienable right of all nations so that colonialism must be abolished in this world as it is not in conformity with humanity and justice", he pointed out.
Thus, Indonesia must contribute to the abolishment of colonialism in the world as part of the collective endeavors to establish a world order based on freedom, abiding peace, and social justice, Arifia asserted.
What happens on the Gaza Strip and other parts of the Palestinian motherland is closely related to acts of Israel's colonialism, he remarked.
He further noted that apart from the fact that Palestine was among the first few nations to recognize Indonesia's independence on August 17, 1945, erstwhile President Soekarno has set down how Indonesia must respond to the Palestinian issue.
"As long as the freedom of Palestine is yet to be returned to the Palestinians, Indonesia will forever stand in defiance against the occupation by Israel," Arifia quoted Soekarno's speech in 1962 as saying.
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