Indonesia Condemns Attack in Al-Aqsa, Evictions of Palestinian Families

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia has condemned Israeli attack against Palestinian civilians in the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex and the forced evictions of six Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, East Jerusalem.

"Indonesia equally condemns the use of force against Palestinian civilians in the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex which has resulted in hundreds of casualties and thereby hurting the feeling of the Ummah," the Indonesian Foreign Ministry tweeted on its official Twitter account on Saturday. Palestinians have been protesting against the forced displacement of people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood following an Israeli court order, Aljazeera reported on May 5, 2021.

The Israeli district court in East Jerusalem approved a decision to vacate six Palestinian families from their homes in May in favour of Israeli settlers. The same court ruled that another seven families in Sheikh Jarrah are to leave their homes by August 1.

Palestinians fear that it is part of an ongoing effort by Israeli settlers to take control of Palestinian homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry said such forced evictions and use of force are contrary to various UN Security Council resolutions, International Humanitarian Law, particularly the IV Geneva Convention of 1949, and have the potential to increase tension and instability in the region.

"We urge the international community to take concrete steps to put a stop to the forced evictions of Palestinians and use of force against civilians," the ministry said.

Al-Jazeera reported that Israeli police fired rubber-coated metal bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinians at Al-Aqsa as anger grows over the potential eviction of Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem.

At least 205 Palestinians and 17 officers were injured in the night-time clashes at Islam’s third-holiest site and around East Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and Israeli police said, as thousands of Palestinians faced off with several hundred Israeli police in riot gear. Jewish settler organisations filed a lawsuit in the 1970s claiming the area belonged to Jews originally, and seeking the expulsion of Palestinian families living there since 1956, Al-Jazeera wrote.

See Photos: Israeli Police Clash with Palestinians at a Al-Aqsa Mosque 

ANTARA