Chairman Of The BKSAP DPR Fadli Zon Condemns The Attack On The Aqsa Mosque, From The Beginning Pessimistic About The Future Of Israeli-Palestinian Peace

JAKARTA - The chairman of the DPR's Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency (BKSAP), Fadli Zon, is concerned and strongly condemns the attack by Israeli officials on Palestinians who were praying at the Aqsa Mosque, April 15 yesterday. This is the umpteenth time Israel has taken action.

According to Fadli Zon, hundreds of people have been injured and dozens of people have died since January 2022. For Fadli Zon, this shows a bleak future for Naftali Bennett's leadership as a peace partner.

"From the start I was pessimistic about the future of peace between Palestine and Israel. Naftali Bennett is a hard-line right-wing politician who has rejected a Palestinian state. He is tougher than Netanyahu," said Fadli Zon in a written statement, Saturday, April 16.

"The series of violence in the past three weeks proves that nothing has changed in Israel's policy towards Palestinians. Israel remains brutal and even more violent."

"The world must not only condemn these atrocities, the world must also condemn the hard-line Israeli government," said the politician who is also vice president of the League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds, a global parliamentary organization based in Istanbul.

He said violence at the Al-Aqsa Complex, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, should have been prevented earlier. The reason is, Israel often resorts to violent acts almost every year in the month of Ramadan when Muslims worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"I see the need for serious preventive measures so that the violence at the Al-Aqsa Complex does not recur every Ramadan. The UN and the international community should not let go," said Fadli Zon.

"Especially if we refer to the important UN General Assembly resolution number 181 of 1947, which stipulates Jerusalem as a territory under international authority and is given separate legal and political status," he continued.

The Gerindra politician also criticized the rules that set Israel as the party controlling access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex. According to Fadli Zon, instead of being a regulator, the Israeli security forces often protect Jewish extremist groups who provocatively enter the complex and inside of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"Of course this action angered the congregation of the mosque. There must be an effort from the United Nations to revoke Israel's access control authority over the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The control must be handed over to a neutral party under UN supervision," he said.

Regarding concrete steps regarding the current situation in Palestine, the DPR's BKSAP has always consistently supported Palestine in many parliamentary forums. They already intend to submit a draft resolution related to Palestine at the 144th General Assembly of the IPU (Inter Parliamentary Union) from 20 to 24 March in Bali.

"However, because the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is getting hotter, we have postponed the Palestinian draft again. But we always remind that the Russia and Ukraine crisis must not ignore the Palestinian issue," said Fadli Zon.

The Indonesian-Palestinian Parliamentary Cooperation Group is also planned to visit the Gaza Strip at the end of May.