Mustafa Barghouti urges Indonesia to resist attempts to displace Palestinians

JAKARTA, (The Palestinian Information Center) Dr Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, warned against US attempts to exploit the Indonesian people’s desire to assist the people of Gaza as a pretext to advance schemes aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from the Strip under “humanitarian” cover.

Speaking at a press conference during his official visit to Indonesia, Barghouti said that Israel is committing three major war crimes in Gaza: genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the imposition of collective punishment, including starvation. He stressed that the most dangerous of these is the effort to expel the population of Gaza from their homeland after driving them, through bloody bombardment, into what has become the largest detention camp in modern history in the south of the Strip.

Barghouti added that the Palestinian people are facing the most serious attempt to uproot them from their land since 1948, with Israel deploying multiple tools to achieve this goal, including relentless bombardment, deliberate starvation, and depriving civilians of medicine, water and electricity. He emphasized that so-called “humanitarian relocation” to certain countries, particularly those far away, is nothing more than a malicious pretext to prevent Palestinians from returning, as part of an integrated plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

He called on Indonesians, both leadership and people, to take four concrete steps:

1.  Reject all forms of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, even if presented under a humanitarian guise. Ensure that any medical or relief initiatives do not become a vehicle for removing Palestinians from their homeland. Instead, channel efforts into supporting hospitals and medical institutions inside Gaza itself, as Indonesia has done before by building hospitals, and exert pressure on Israel to halt its barbaric war and open all crossings to allow the entry of medicines, medical equipment, medical teams and humanitarian aid.
2.  Resist American and Israeli pressure aimed at dragging Indonesia towards normalization, and maintain the firm and principled official and popular stance that supports the Palestinian people and rejects any ties with the occupation.
3.  Advance the boycott and impose sanctions on Israel, and work with other countries to isolate it diplomatically and economically in order to stop its criminal aggression against the Palestinian people.
4.  Support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land across all of Palestine, particularly in the West Bank and Gaza.

Barghouti expressed gratitude to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and civil society organizations for their warm welcome and for organizing the visit. He also visited the Palestinian Embassy in Jakarta, where he met the Ambassador of Palestine, Dr Zuhair Al-Shan, and thanked him for his reception.

Dr Barghouti was accompanied by Adnan Hmidan, a member of the International Alliance for Palestine in Britain, who described the visit as “extremely important at this critical time.” Hmidan explained that the US administration has given Israel the green light to commit its crimes in Gaza amid genuine fears of pressure being exerted to advance normalization and displacement.

The visit, coordinated with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, included a series of meetings with officials, political, religious and social leaders, as well as public sessions with academics and solidarity activists, addressing ways to strengthen both popular and official solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

In conclusion, Barghouti stressed that “the Indonesian people set a remarkable example in their unwavering solidarity with Palestine, a stance that dates back to the era of President Sukarno, when Palestine was among the first states to recognize Indonesia’s independence.” He noted that this deeply rooted solidarity forms a bulwark against Israeli and allied attempts to promote normalization or enforce forced displacement, and remains a pillar of support for the Palestinian struggle for freedom, return and victory in their just cause.