President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) invited the Prime Minister and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) to jointly stop the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas which has recently become increasingly raging. Jokowi conveyed this invitation during a bilateral meeting with MbS at Al-Yamamah Palace, Riyadh, on Thursday (19/10/2023) local time.
"This is the time for the world to stand together to stop escalation, prioritize humanitarian issues, and resolve the root of the problem according to agreed international parameters," said Jokowi in an official statement, Thursday (19/10/2023), as reported by CNN Indonesia.
During the meeting, Jokowi also encouraged the problems in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict areas to be resolved immediately according to the agreed terms. Jokowi also said that Indonesia condemns the situation in Palestine which is in the midst of a conflict. He also reiterated Indonesia's stance which strongly condemns all attacks that impact humanity from Israel.
"Indonesia strongly condemns Israel's attack on Al Ahly Hospital in Gaza which resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties," said Jokowi.
President Jokowi also conveyed the same thing when speaking at the ASEAN and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit on Friday (20/10/2023). The ASEAN-GCC Summit is a collaboration between Southeast Asian countries and a number of countries in the Middle East. ASEAN consists of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor Leste. The GCC consists of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
At the meeting which was also attended by kings from the GCC countries, President Jokowi touched on Israel's colonization of Palestine. Jokowi asked all countries present to remember the trigger for the war in the Gaza Strip. He believes that the Israeli occupation must be resolved.
"We must not forget that the root of the problem is the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel," said Jokowi.
He emphasized that the position of ASEAN and the GCC must be clear and solid. This, he said, is necessary to support a just and lasting peace solution in Palestine.
Jokowi pushed for an end to violence in the Gaza Strip. According to him, humanitarian issues must be a priority.
"In particular, I want to express my concern over the development of the situation in Gaza, acts of violence must stop," said Jokowi.
