Palestine-Israel from the Lens of Middle Eastern Studies<\/strong><\/p>\n The Modern Middle Eastern Studies generally use the comparison between previous cases in\u00a0viewing current cases or issues. However, Mr. Gilang stated that the Palestinian-Israel issues are\u00a0different, because in general, they are difficult to compare with others issue in the Middle East or\u00a0it is called as sui generis. There are three things that make the Palestinian-Israeli issue unique.\u00a0First is the unfinished mandate system, Israeli exceptionalism, and unfinished settler-colonial\u00a0project.<\/p>\n Before Mr. Gilang discussing about the unfinished mandate system, he explained why the\u00a0Palestinian-Israeli issue are received a great attention from the international community. He used\u00a0two car accident analogy which the first one involved ourselves and the second one was only a\u00a0witness of another car accident. Logically, he explained, we will solve the first one because we\u00a0were directly involved in the accident. The same things also apply in the international community,\u00a0where the attention will be given to the issue which is the international community directly\u00a0involved.<\/p>\n The mandate system itself rooted from the World War One aftermath when Britain was given the\u00a0mandate by the League of Nations to control Palestine and Transjordan from the deposed\u00a0Ottoman Empire. Theoretically, the mandate control is different from colonialism because it has\u00a0a time limitation, it is a transition toward independence and Palestinians were not colonial\u00a0subjects. However, the independence which should be received by Palestinians were never be\u00a0given by Britain.<\/p>\n The problem come from the conflicting promises because Britain also promised its Palestinian\u00a0mandate territory to the Jewish in Europe as their homeland through the Balfour Declaration. By\u00a0that reason the Jews from Europe gradually come and settled in Palestinian land. The flood of\u00a0Jews migrant in Palestinian Mandate Territory causing the conflict among local Arabs and the\u00a0settler. The conflict reached its peak when the Arab Revolt erupted in 1936 as the response to the\u00a0Britain policy.<\/p>\n In the move to ease the tension with Arabs, Britain issued new policy, called The White Paper,\u00a0to deliver the Palestinian Mandate Territory independence within next 10 years. The Jews\u00a0community however, rejected the Britain policy citing the British promise about Jew Homeland\u00a0and concerned their safety in the Arab-majority state. As protest against Britain policy swept\u00a0across the territory, some Jewish organization conducted terrorism act as can be noticed in the\u00a0Semiramis and King David Hotel bombing.<\/p>\n As the conflict became more complex, Britain returned its mandate control to the League of\u00a0Nations successor, the United Nation (UN). The UN, the new holder of mandate, issued the peace\u00a0formula for the solution called the 1947 Partition Plan. The plan will divide the Palestinian\u00a0territory into Arab state, Jewish State, and Jerusalem as a corpus separatum. But yet, the proposal\u00a0was rejected and the Arab-Israeli War erupted in 1948 and resulted the Palestinian refugee crisis\u00a0or Al-Nakba. Since the issue is still ongoing, the UN as international community representatives\u00a0still hold the direct responsibility to fulfill the desired solution.The settler colonialism is different from classical colonialism suffered by Indonesia.<\/p>\n According\u00a0to Mr. Gilang, the settler colonialism, has a purpose to replace the native population and establish\u00a0a new state on top of it. Also, it\u2019s unclear for a metropole-colony pattern in settler colonialism.\u00a0In contrast, the classical colonialism’s purpose is to subjugate the native population and has a\u00a0clear pattern of metropole-colony relations. For the Israeli, their settler colonialism project is not\u00a0finished since there is still a lot of native Arabs in the territory. Some opinion emerged in Israel\u00a0that they should eliminate all the remaining Arabs during the 1948 war as time goes by peoples tend to forget something in the past. The same things that happened in the United States, Canada,\u00a0and Australia after they finished the settler colonialism project.<\/p>\n The Israel exceptionalism come from their suffer during the Holocaust. To avoid another\u00a0suffering in the future, Israelis claim that they have a right to be treated differently in many\u00a0aspects. Mr. Gilang explained that They often used the Pharmacy Break-in analogy to justify their\u00a0needs. The analogy illustrates that in an emergency, an accident victim could break into a\u00a0pharmacy to get medicine and the government will pay the settlement to the pharmacy owner.\u00a0However, in the Palestinian case, there is no world government that would \u2018pay\u2019 the settlement\u00a0to Palestinian. Also, after got the \u2018medicine\u2019 the Israeli settled there rather than leave the\u00a0pharmacy, making the analogy irrelevant to the Israeli claim. As a consequence of Israeli exceptionalism, the peace formula becomes complicated and tends\u00a0to be rejected by Israelis. One of the examples. is the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002.<\/p>\n The Arab\u00a0states offered the peace with Israel if they leave the West Bank and Gaza, respect the rights of\u00a0Palestinian refugees, and adhere the international law. The Two-state solution which offered the\u00a0division of Israel and Palestinian state also rejected. Israeli cited that the solution will make the\u00a0Israeli state in vulnerable position as their state are near the sea and Palestinian in the mountain.\u00a0Indonesia in Palestine-Israeli issue: Liberal or Pragmatic?\u00a0The liberal approach according to Mr. Gilang is defined in the basic, the optimistic view, the\u00a0importance of non-state actors, and cooperation. Hence, the implications for Indonesia in liberal\u00a0approach is adherence to the UN-centered international regime, interconnection of global\u00a0problems and responsibilities, and peace is achievable. A pragmatic approach, on the other hand,\u00a0will emphasize maximizing the national interest. The national interest itself includes a reflection\u00a0of international structure, domestic considerations, and the complex relation between them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaker 2: Mrs. Tia Mariatul Kibtiah, S. Ag., M.Si<\/strong><\/p>\n The History and Recent Developments\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Mrs. Tia tries to explore the problems between Palestine and Israel from Indonesian perspective.\u00a0Diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Israel keep to be considered. Normalization with\u00a0Israel won\u2019t continue to the next stage because the public or society can\u2019t accept this step.\u00a0Stereotypes like Kafir to observers indicate that the Indonesian people haven\u2019t been able to clearly\u00a0see the problems that occured between Palestine and Israel. Based on history, Indonesia actually\u00a0has no problem with Israel. In 1948, the war between Israel and Arab countries involving\u00a0Palestine, Greece, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria occurred. The conflict continues into the\u00a0Six-Days War. Israel aims to control the Sinai and Golan. However, Sinai was taken back by\u00a0Egypt while the Golan was divided into two parts, one belongs to Israel and the other to Syria.<\/p>\n Next, was the Yom-Kippur war. In these three wars, Israel maintained its position as the victor\u00a0over the Arab countries. The opening of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Israel is not a\u00a0problem for the Indonesian people. The Indonesian people still see Egypt as a country in the\u00a0Middle East and known as a country that provides scholarships in the education for the Indonesian\u00a0student, this makes the Indonesian people not see Egypt as the Holy Land as Indonesians to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n The latest issue comes from the gulf countries, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which\u00a0have opened diplomatic relations with Israel. As it is known that these two countries are Saudi\u00a0Arabia’s strongest alliance. The reason for the United Arab Emirates to open diplomatic relations\u00a0with Israel is to maintain the West Bank. Through this cooperation, the United Arab Emirates\u00a0also can communicate and negotiate with Israel to achieve Free-Palestine as well as Bahrain.\u00a0Indonesian people always see Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait as Islamic\u00a0countries. In fact, if we look further, these countries adhere to the kingdom system and have\u00a0nothing link with it. Indonesian people feel that they have ties to Arab countries because of the<\/p>\n Muslim frame. Saudi Arabia under the government of Muhammad Bin Salman experienced a\u00a0shift in the domestic and foreign policy. Of course this is a new thing because so far Saudi Arabia\u00a0has been strict with Israel. On several time, King Salman attended AIPAC meetings. The\u00a0declining economy and awareness of not being able to continue to depend on oil are reasons for\u00a0the Saudis getting involved with AIPAC, which includes successful and influential Jewish\u00a0businessmen.<\/p>\n Indonesian Engagement and The Decisions<\/p>\n Until now, Indonesia rejected diplomatic relations with Israel, it is also stated in Indonesia’s first\u00a0focus as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2019-2020 that is Free Palestine.\u00a0Although it doesn’t open diplomatic relations with Israel, data shows that the number of trade and\u00a0tourism sectors between Indonesia and Israel from 2015-2020 continues to increase. This\u00a0illustrates describing that even though there is no diplomatic relationship, the cooperation\u00a0between Indonesia and Israel keep going. The relationship between the US and Israel can\u2019t be\u00a0separated, many large companies in the US are controlled by Jews.<\/p>\n This makes the US always\u00a0support Israel. The relationship between Indonesia and the US itself has been going for a long\u00a0time and it is undeniable that the US has contributed to the progress of Indonesia, for example\u00a0Freeport and other companies and probably one of the leaders is a Jew. Indonesia under the\u00a0leadership of Gus Dur tried to approach Israel in the Shimon Peres Foundation, but this became\u00a0a bad rating for Gus Dur’s political career. The point that Indonesia’s insistence is Palestine must\u00a0be independent as a country or both countries, Israel and Palestine make peace through a Two-State Solution system. In conclusion, Mrs. Tia emphasized that the theory is more suitable to look\u00a0at this problem from the Indonesian perspective is Liberalism.<\/p>\n For her, Realism has no connection\u00a0here, because Indonesia never has historical problems with Israel or Palestine. This problem also\u00a0won\u2019t be solved if we use a religious perspective, but this problem will be better if we look at it\u00a0from the perspective of international relations.<\/p>\n Speaker 3: Mr. Bintang Hidayanto, S.H<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the material Mr. Bintang has given, The issue between Israel and Palestine is very\u00a0complex and contains several other issues inside. These issues involve countries outside of the\u00a0Gulf States, even when the case itself wasn\u2019t directly tied with countries in the Gulf States. Issues\u00a0that arise in the relevant region, particularly between Israel and Palestine, give rise to various\u00a0opinions. For example, consider the problem of Hamas’ opposition to Fatah, which has resulted\u00a0in increasingly heated debates regarding Israel’s and Palestine’s politics.<\/p>\n This is seen in Hamas’\u00a0increasing antagonism to Fatah, despite the fact that both were Palestinian leaders in their separate\u00a0camps. Hamas is an Islamic political party with the primary donor coming from Qatar. At the\u00a0same time, Fatah has the most significant donor coming from Israel, also sponsored and endorsed\u00a0by Hamas. In some parts of Asia, Hamas is regarded as a terrorist organization, despite both camps being guilty of terrorism. Perceptions have shifted as a result of connections. On the\u00a0Palestinian side, there is a power struggle, and there is a plan for Hamas and Fatah to merge in\u00a0order to combat Israel. Still, it fails, reinforcing the perception that Fatah is corrupt and\u00a0convoluted or implicated in aiding Israel. Hamas, on the other hand, is corrupt and militaristic,\u00a0with its own set of qualities. Fatah has lost influence and internal support as a result of its failure\u00a0to contribute, whereas Hamas has a large following. Furthermore, Hamas is hostile to Israel. With\u00a0diverse geopolitical dynamics, the concept of striking Hamas elicits a reaction from its opponents\u00a0and makes anyone guess where the rockets are. It may also be observed in the resistance against\u00a0Saudi Arabia that includes Iran and Yemen, as well as Iran’s involvement with Hamas and Israel,\u00a0which Fatah backs. Israel occasionally has disagreements with Fatah, as well as Qatar and Saudi\u00a0Arabia. The religious aspect of several of these topics is also quite important. Although many\u00a0political goals also help shape this issue, the ‘framing’ of the problem is based on the concept of\u00a0religion.<\/p>\n Everything can be put to rest as long as internal problems can be handled via reconciliation. In\u00a0the face of Israel’s annexation, a solution or permanent deterrence must be developed. But\u00a0because of the complexity and magnitude of the issue, it is estimated that the whole matter\u00a0wouldn\u2019t end in the near future and will cause more tension even for other countries. To this day,\u00a0Indonesia has been relatively neutral. According to the constitution\u2019s contents, Indonesia\u00a0embraces the principle where Indonesia strictly resists any form of colonialism. Based on that,\u00a0Indonesia acts against the Israel-Palestine issue. Indonesia has shown a form of support: several\u00a0facilities are given to Palestine, for example, cost coverage from the Palestine embassy and a 2,3\u00a0Million USD aid. Indonesia’s attitude towards this conflict can be maintained based on practical\u00a0considerations and considering Indonesia’s political strength.<\/p>\n JAKARTA – HIMHI 1.0 Webinar ‘Indonesia in the Palestinian-Israeli Issues: Pragmatic or\u00a0Liberal’ is the first webinar series held by the International Relations Student Association\u00a0(HIMHI) Universitas Bina Nusantara in 2021 which has been held online through the Zoom\u00a0Meeting platform. The webinar, which took place on August 14th, 2021, raised the theme of\u00a0issues that are currently happening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":3148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3173,"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153\/revisions\/3173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/student-activity.binus.ac.id\/himhi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2021-09-22-at-12.29.52.jpeg\")
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