Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Monday that a gruesome war like what is happening in the Gaza Strip should not have happened in today’s super modern world.

Dozens of interreligious authorities from across the globe are gathering in Jakarta for some talks on the Palestine conflict. Jokowi immediately brought up Israeli forces’ atrocities as he kicked off the forum, further reaffirming Indonesia’s pro-Palestine stance.

“It is absurd to see a war still taking place in a super modern world that we live in, as well as a clear massacre against civilians, including women and children,” Jokowi said at the International Summit of Religious Authorities (ISORA) in Jakarta on Monday.

“We cannot tolerate the humanitarian tragedy in Palestine. There is a need for an immediate ceasefire. We need to expedite the entry of humanitarian assistance and start peace talks as soon as possible,” Jokowi said.

The president also made a reference to the 1945 Constitution preamble, saying that “independence is the inalienable right of all nations.”

Yahya Cholil Staquf, who chairs the executive council of the world’s largest Muslim organization Nadhlatul Ulama, said that the ISORA forum sought to come up with some concrete action, among others, to prevent religion from being used as a reason to justify conflict.

“We will discuss ways on how we can engage the key stakeholders, not just Hamas, but also the Israeli government, among others. But the point is we want to focus on having joint frameworks to address the conflicts. We already have such frameworks, among others, the United Nations [UN] Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Yahya told reporters on the sidelines of the talks.

“But all these protracted conflicts are happening because there are certain actors who prevent this international consensus from being in place,” Yahya said.

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