Palestinian govt seeks Jakarta role in peace

Jakarta, May 26: The Palestinian government's foreign minister called on Indonesia today to take a role in the troubled West Asia peace process, and won a promise of support from the world's most-populous Muslim country.

''We are looking forward to working closely (with) the newly elected government,'' Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told a news conference after meeting Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar in Jakarta.

''We will do what we can to help advance the Palestinian cause,'' Wirajuda said, adding that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was expected to visit Jakarta in June.

Wirajuda said Indonesia was planning to dispatch diplomats to the Palestinian territories and was studying whether it could set up an office in Gaza.

Al-Zahar, who comes from the militant Hamas group, also met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other high-ranking officials to garner support for the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

Israel and the United States have sought to isolate the new government since Hamas, which seeks the demise of Israel, swept legislative elections in January and took control of the executive branch late in March.

''We are encouraging a very constructive role for Indonesia ... for helping the Palestinians,'' he told the same news conference.

Al-Zahar received a 90,000 dollars cash donation when he met Indonesian legislators and Yudhoyono promised to provide food and medical aid for Palestinians.

''We will be giving aid ultimately to prevent a humanitarian crisis. The Indonesian cabinet will convene to discuss this matter,'' Wirajuda told reporters after Yudhoyono met al-Zahar.

Indonesia is legally secular and its Islamic populace is largely moderate, but many Indonesian Muslims are passionately pro-Palestinian and the government has no formal ties with Israel.

Al-Zahar said his government had no objection to talks between Abbas, who comes from the former ruling group Fatah, and the Israelis but added that such an attempt would yield nothing.

''We have no objection meeting anybody but we don't trust the Israeli side. We are speaking too much about peace while ... they are confiscating our rights,'' he said in the earlier news conference.

The so-called ''Quartet'' of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations has said the Hamas-led government has failed to commit itself to the Israeli-Palestinian ''roadmap'' peace accord.

The Quartet wants the Palestinian administration to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace accords.

REUTERS