Provocation at Al-Aqsa Mosque
The scenes recently broadcast by various television stations were quite gripping. We witnessed the cruelty of an armed Israeli helicopter crew as it launched a rocket at a Palestinian ambulance attempting to assist casualties. It’s difficult to understand why humanitarian efforts—protected by international laws on warfare—are approved as enemies to be annihilated. We also watched as an Israeli soldier casually took aim at and shot a 12-year-old boy in the head, just because he was busily throwing stones in the direction of his military unit. So don’t be surprised if many fingers around the world are pointing at Israel, accusing them of being a terrorist state to be condemned and made to realize its atrocious behavior.
The term ‘terrorist state’ is not a concoction. All of this callousness caught in the viewfinders of the international media is not the action of random elements, but the implementation of orders from the Israeli military institution. In fact, the acts of provocation conducted by Ariel Sharon while visiting Al Aqsa Mosque were not individual in nature. The proof is that about 1,000 fully equipped soldiers preceded the arrival of this hard-line figure to that Muslim holy place.
Retired General Sharon indeed holds a long record as a butcher of Palestinian civilians. Besides his role in the slaughter of Kibya Ariel village in 1953, Sharon was the architect of the attack on Lebanon in 1982, which resulted in the tragic slaughter of hundreds of civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. At the time, Sharon together with Bashir Gemayel, openly stated—with head held high—that he was going to reduce the number of Palestinians in Lebanon from 500,000 to 50,000.
This arrogance was able to manifest itself because of America’s strong support for Israel, irrespective of whatever action was undertaken by this Middle Eastern nation. The existence of about 6 million citizens of Jewish descent who dominate US economics and politics have made the foreign policies of this superpower a hostage of its domestic political interests. Just take a look at the reality. The US is the only member country of the United Nations that did not agree with the wording of the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s savagery. Whereas, for a number of human rights violations in other parts of the world, Washington has always been the initiator when it comes to making resolutions. In fact, even occurrences carried out by outside elements (those which don’t fall under governmental policies) cannot escape the blasphemies of this policy and its double standards.
In facing this injustice, Indonesia should righteously become one of the nations to take the initiative to coalesce world opinion and pressure Israel and the US to change their policies on Palestine. The meeting between parliamentarians from around the world, currently being held in Jakarta, must be taken advantage of for efforts to implement a ‘free and active’ foreign policy. Of course, this must be done in a more sophisticated way than Washington has been using to pressure Indonesia. This can be done, for example, by acknowledging that many Israeli residents themselves do not agree with, and have even protested the actions of its government in Palestine. Also by being consistent in carrying out an anti-Zionist policy without becoming trapped in anti-Semitic sentiments.
If Jakarta is capable of conducting such a strategy, its impact upon the international world will be sizable. For example, Israeli hard-liners often take advantage of the image of Islam as a group of radicals who easily resort to violence to attract world sympathy—especially from Western nations. An Indonesia that can gather the protest of the world in an anti-violent form will be very effective in neutralizing this tactic employed often by those Israeli hard-liners. This is because, lest we forget, that the Republic of Indonesia constitutes the home of the largest Muslim community in the world, whose numbers are equivalent to the number of Muslims in the entire Arab region.
That is the reason why the motion that President Wahid immediately state his withdrawal from the administration of the Shimon Peres Foundation needs to be wisely considered. For, if the Jews in this group constitute the circle that has protested the harshness of Tel Aviv’s actions, then this institution can be used as a forum of strong proof that shows that the Muslim community of Indonesia is not anti-Semitic, aside from being anti-Zionist. This is one stance already exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad at the time when he was the leader of the Muslim communities in Mecca and Medina.
On top of that, by referring to the Medina Charter, Indonesia should aggressively propose that the city of Jerusalem—a location of the holy sites of a number of religions—should be designated an international city under the auspices of the UN. As such, there would be improved guarantees of the smooth and safe conducting of religious activities for each religion in Jerusalem. Additionally, UN caretaker status of this ancient city could become a prime example of the teachings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam which all extol the love of peace. This is in contradiction with the present situation, in which it has rather become the rationalization of violence in the name of each respective religion.
If this noble aspiration is to be achieved, the possibility of bloody tragedies now taking place in Palestine or in Maluku will be reduced. That is why Indonesia must be more aggressive in taking up this diplomatic opportunity now openly presenting itself. History teaches that the window of opportunity is never open for long. Only those who are aware will be able to take advantage of it.
So: Carpe Diem!
JK