WNAM REPORT: Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, emphasized the importance of international recognition of the State of Palestine, calling it a crucial step toward realizing the two-state solution.
Recognition is essential as it can offer hope to the Palestinian people, she stated during a ministerial meeting on the situation in Gaza at the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.
“It is also an important step towards achieving a two-state solution. And most importantly it is the only way to put political pressure to Israel to end its atrocities,” she added.
Marsudi criticized countries that are delaying recognition of Palestine, waiting for the “right time.”
“When will be the right time? For me, the right time is now. The right time is now,” she said. “We don’t want to wait until all Palestinians are displaced, until 100,000 people killed, to say that this is the right time.”
She also stressed the urgent need to implement UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/24, which calls for an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.
Marsudi warned that hopes for peace will be shattered if UN member states lack the courage to press a single state to comply with the resolution.
“Indonesia therefore urges all of us, all of us, to ensure that implementation the resolution happened,” she added.
In a separate session before the Ministerial Meeting to Support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Indonesia reiterated its strong support for UNRWA.
“It is hard to imagine how the humanitarian situation (in Palestine) would be today, if there was no UNRWA on the ground,” Marsudi said, underscoring the importance of both political and financial backing for the agency.
Political support is crucial to protect UNRWA from political pressure, as “a threat to UNRWA is a threat to humanity,” she pointed out.
On the financial front, Indonesia set a concrete example by doubling its annual contribution to UNRWA in 2024.
