Indonesians march in support of Palestinians Crowds turn out to protest at US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
Tens of thousands of people in Indonesia yesterday protested against US president Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the latest show of support for the Palestinians in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that any change to the status of Jerusalem – a city considered holy by Muslims, Christians and Jews – will have no legal effect and must be reversed.
Indonesia’s top Islamic authority, the Indonesian Ulema Council, supported by the government and other Islamic organisations, organised the rally where 80,000 protesters gathered at the National Monument in the capital Jakarta, waving the Palestinian flag and banners reading “Free Palestine”.
“This is my solidarity as a Muslim to my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine ... the Al Aqsa mosque, a historical mosque for Muslims, is there [in Jerusalem],” said Hermawati, from the nearby city of Bogor, Agence France-Presse reported.
The demonstrators, most of whom were dressed in white, were demanding that the US change its decision.
Indonesian government officials were among those at the protest site just a few metres from the US embassy, which was cordoned off behind coils of razor wire.
“Isn’t it the government’s job to work on the aspirations of the majority of Indonesians?
“And the government has tried its best so Palestine can achieve its rights and independence,” religious affairs minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin told the rally. Indonesia has condemned Mr Trump’s decision, with president Joko Widodo joining other world Islamic leaders last Wednesday in an emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul. Even though the protest was peaceful, rows of police behind coils of barbed wire held back the crowd.
About 20,000 security personnel were at the rally, a police spokesman said, according to
The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution calling on countries to not open embassies in Jerusalem
Reuters. “We urge all countries to reject the unilateral and illegal decision of president Donald Trump to make Jerusalem Israel’s capital,” Anwar Abbas, secretary general of the Indonesian Ulema Council, told the crowd.
“We call on all Indonesian people to boycott US and Israeli products in this country” if Mr Trump does not reverse his decision, Mr Abbas said, reading from a petition intended to be handed over to the US ambassador.
The status of the holy city is a sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the US would have no role if it did not reverse its Jerusalem decision.
Egypt circulated a UN draft text on the Jerusalem issue on Saturday, and diplomats said the council could vote on the proposed measure as early as today.
The draft resolution obtained by AFP emphasises that Jerusalem is an issue “to be resolved through negotiations” and expresses “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem”, without specifically mentioning Mr Trump’s move.
The draft resolution calls on all countries to refrain from opening embassies in Jerusalem, reflecting concerns that other governments could follow the US’s lead.
It demands that all member states not recognise any actions on the status of the city that are contrary to relevant UN resolutions.