NU committed to upholding Palestine

Jakarta, NU Online
General chairman of the Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) KH Said Aqil Sirad said that the present of the NU Secretary Genaral KH Yahya Kholil Staquf, popularly known as Gus Yahya, was a personal invitation and was not to do with the Nahdliyin based organization.

"There is no string attached with NU," he told reporters here recently, adding that NU was committed to upholding the independence of Palestine.

Gus Yahya had faced mounting protests over his scheduled travel to Israel from Indonesian politicians and community leaders, the Palestine foreign ministry and Indonesian netizens.

Indonesia and Israel maintain no formal diplomatic ties although trade, tourism and security contacts between them are ongoing.

Recently, Israel decided to disallow Indonesian tourists, starting from 9 June, to visit that country in retaliation for Jakarta’s move to suspend visas for Israelis.

The Indonesian government linked its decision to last month’s killing by Israel of 60 Palestinians. But, Israel announced last week that it would block Indonesian tourists’ entry only on 26 June, in spite of the originally planned 9 June.

Reportedly, thousands of Indonesian travelers entered Israel annually in the past years. In 2013, the number reached 30,000 people, three times larger than in the previous three years. (Masdar)