Gus Dur: Palestine, Israel should end conflict through talks

Yogyakarta, NU Online
Former President of Indonesia Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid said Palestine and Israel should come to the negotiation table to stop their military conflict.

"Palestine and Israel need to enter into negotiations. Otherwise, the Palestinian people will be wiped out because Israel`s war machine is more sophisticated than Palestine`s," Gus Dur said here on Thursday.<>

He said he was on the side of the Palestinian people and therefore he couldn`t stand seeing them become victims in the conflict with Israel.

According to the former president, the conflict between Palestine and Israel was a political issue and it had nothing to do with religion, because Palestine wanted to be an independent country while Israel wanted to be a strong country.

But Gus Dur said Hamas did not think so, and one of its leaders had once said Hamas would continue fighting Israel even if it had to do so one hundred years.

Gus Dur said it was better for Palestine and Israel to hold negotiations because if the war between them continued , more Palestinian people would become victims.

Commenting on the desire of some Indonesian people to be sent to Palestine as volunteers , Gus Dur said there was no certainty if they could leave for the country.

"Is it true that some Indonesian people want to be volunteers in Palestine, and if they go to Palestine, what would they do there?" he asked. (ant/dar)