TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Armanatha Natsir stated that Indonesia continued to push the UN General Assembly to hold an emergency special session to discuss Israel's attack on Gaza, Palestine.

"From the beginning, we have attempted to speak with Palestine and the Arab League to push for an emergency special session at the UN General Assembly," he said during a press conference live streamed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday evening, Oct. 24.

Armanatha explained that Indonesia has taken various measures to urge a stop to the conflict in Gaza ever since the escalation on October 7. One of these measures was holding a dialogue with Palestine and the Arab League to urge an emergency special session at UNGA.

Though appreciative of this effort, Palestine and the Arab League tried to give the UN Security Council a chance to execute its function to issue a resolution to call for a ceasefire. However, until this article was released, the UNSC failed to adopt a resolution or concrete steps toward a ceasefire.

Thus, Palestine and the Arab League convened and decided to pursue the discussion in another forum, the emergency special session at the UNGA.

Organization of the Islamic Conference with Indonesia's support also agreed to bring the issue of Gaza in an emergency special session at the UNGA. The organization along with the Arab League sent a request for the session to the UNGA on October 19.

According to Armanatha, Indonesia also took the initiative to gather support from non-state members of OIC to back its position on this issue. Indonesia has spoken to member states of ASEAN such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia to push for an emergency session. Countries outside of Southeast Asia also support the measures he added.

On October 23, OIC, the Arab League, Indonesia, and nine other countries finally submitted a formal request for an emergency session at the UNGA to discuss the issue in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the UNGA Chair agreed to the proposal and will conduct an emergency special session on Gaza on Thursday, October 26, 2023.

ANTARA

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