Israel's participation in APU meeting sparks widespread protests

Jakarta, NU Online
The participation of an Israeli parliamentary delegation in the 116th conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) scheduled on April 29-May 4 in the resort island of Bali had sparked mass protests in many parts of the country on Friday.

In Bandung, some 1,000 people grouped in the Alliance of Anti-Israeli Mass Islamic Organizations staged a rally outside the "Gedung Sate", one of the city’s most popular icons, which houses the provincial administration.<>

The demonstrators who were mostly activists of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Muslim Union (PUI) and the National Committee for Palestinians marched one kilometer from the Islamic Propagation Center to the provincial administrative building. 

They denounced the invitation from the event’s organizing committee to the Israeli parliament to attend the meeting.

In Solo, Central Java, some 1,000 people also staged a rally at the Gladag roundabout to reject the Israeli parliament’s participation in the annual assembly.

The rally’s coordinator, Muhammad Ikhlas Thamrin, said Indonesia’s free and active foreign policy was put to another test after the event’s organizing committee had invited the Israeli parliament to the meeting.

"On the one hand Indonesia adopts a free and active foreign policy, upholds global peace and condemns all kinds of colonalism, but on the other hand, the government’s political stance recently contradicts this policy," he said. 

In Jember, East Java, some 50 PKS members also took to the streets to oppose the Israeli parliament’s participation in the meeting.

"PKS asks the government to listen to the people’s aspirations and ban any Israeli delegation from comingto Indonesia," chief of the party’s branch in Jember, Yuli Privanto.

As reported by Antara news agency, the peaceful rally which took place the Tegal Boto traffic circle drew the attention of passers-by including students.

In Banda Aceh, Islamic cleric Tgk. H Faisal Ali asked the entire nation to reject the Israeli parliamentary delegation’s participation in the event so long as the Zionist nation still failed to recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state.  

The even’t chief organizer Abdillah Toha early said that up to Wednesday night, the Israeli parliament was still undecided about attending the meeting. (dar)