PBNU Urges Israel To Open Access To Aqsa Mosque For Muslims During Ramadan

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Executive Board KH Yahya Cholil Staquf urged Israel to open access to the Aqsa Mosque, especially for Muslims during Ramadan.

"We also sincerely ask the Israeli authorities to open access to the Aqsa Mosque to worship during this Ramadan, because for some time the Aqsa Mosque has been closed access from Muslims who want to worship there," said Gus Yahya in a written statement reported by ANTARA, Saturday, March 9.

Gus Yahya also highlighted the deteriorating humanitarian tragedy in Palestine, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank, and in an effort to find solutions for the Palestinian people, Gus Yahya admitted that he had communicated intensively with various parties, both at home and abroad, including the Indonesian government through the foreign minister.

However, he considered, the situation was still very difficult, with the voice of the international community ignored by the parties involved.

"We are concerned that the ongoing disaster tends to be a status quo, because all the voices of the international community have not been heard and ignored by those involved in this Palestinian disaster," he said.

Therefore, Gus Yahya appealed to the international community, including the Indonesian government, to continue to take international diplomatic initiatives and firm policies.

"Initiatives in the form of international diplomatic maneuvers, or decisive policies (forced) and carried out indeliberate (be careful) in the field to strive to continue to uncover the freezing of disasters that are currently ongoing," he said.

Gus Yahya also asked global actors to remember that allowing brutality in Palestine could trigger harmful dynamics for global stability and security.

"Because all principles of international law are violated and with insistence on being protected, it is allowed to continue and can cause the entire international community to give up on the international order based on the rules that have been agreed upon," he said.

To that end, he demanded global actors immediately stop the atrocities that occurred in Gaza and Palestine and return to the international consensus that had been agreed upon.

According to him, neglect of this consensus can shake the confidence of the international community in the international order based on the rules.

"We also demand global actors to immediately stop the acrocities (cruelty), stop the catastrophe that is currently taking place in Gaza and Palestine, and return to existing international laws and consensus," he said.*