Jakarta. Indonesia is currently on a mission to get more countries to recognize the Palestinian State as such recognition would be a major building block to a permanent ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi recently attended a ministerial gathering of the economic bloc Developing-8 (D-8) in Turkiye. D-8 comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkiye -- and all members had sent their ministers to Istanbul to discuss the Gaza war. All D-8 members are part of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a separate group that has also tried to cool down the situation in Gaza.

According to Retno, Indonesia has been calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. But to stop the war, countries across the globe must recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.

“Before we can reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, there are several things that we need to do to help Palestine. First, the D-8 countries must continue to use their influence to get more countries to recognize the Palestinian state,” Retno said in a press statement over the weekend, following the D-8 meeting.

Retno said how she had met with some of her European counterparts --Norway’s Espen Barth Eide, Spain’s Jose Manuel Albares, and Ireland’s Micheal Martin. All three countries recently announced they would officially join the list of countries that recognize Palestinian statehood-- a decision that infuriated Israel. “This June, I will be holding talks with several European countries with the same goal in mind,” Retno added, without going into details about whom she plans on nudging for a similar recognition next.

Indonesia recognized Palestinian statehood in 1988, making it one of the first countries to do so. There are 146 out of the 193 UN member states who now recognize a Palestinian state.

The recent D-8 meeting also released a joint declaration, in which the group hailed the recent additional recognitions as an “endeavor for the sake of peace in the region”.

“[We] call on the states that have not yet recognized the state of Palestine to do so as a requirement of peace, international law, justice, and conscience,” the D-8 joint declaration reads.