Jakarta. Indonesia called any displacement attempt of Gaza residents as “unacceptable” following US President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate some Gazans to the Southeast Asian country.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff recently floated a plan to temporarily relocate 2 million Gaza residents during the post-war rebuilding process. Witkoff said that Indonesia was among the possible host countries to accommodate some of those Gazans. The Foreign Affairs Ministry had denied ever hearing such plans on Monday. Indonesia also issued another statement the following day. 

“Indonesia’s stance remains unequivocal: any attempts to displace or remove Gaza’s residents is entirely unacceptable,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.

“Such efforts to depopulate Gaza would only serve to perpetuate the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and align with broader strategies aimed at expelling Palestinians from Gaza,” the ministry said.

Indonesia also repeated its statement that the country had yet to receive any information from anyone, nor any plans regarding the relocation. Jakarta said that it would refrain “from speculating on issues of which no information is available.”

Indonesia -- a staunch supporter of Palestinian independence -- called the ongoing ceasefire as a momentum to start the negotiations towards a two-state solution. For context, the two-state solution calls for the establishment of an independent state for Palestinians alongside that of Israel.

The fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas is currently on a 6-week pause as part of a much-awaited ceasefire deal. This three-part ceasefire pact also includes release of hostages, and will eventually lead to the reconstruction of Gaza, something which could take years. Foreign Minister Sugiono said last week that Indonesia would help rebuild the lives of Gazans, including “supporting the reconstruction efforts”.

The ceasefire came into effect on Sunday local time after 15 months of intense war. Local health authorities reported that Israeli attacks on Gaza had killed over 47,000 Palestinians.

Add as a preferred source on Google +