Indonesia has begun training a contingent of up to 8,000 soldiers it plans to send as part of an international peacekeeping force to Gaza, the first firm commitment to a critical element of US President Donald Trump's postwar reconstruction plan.
Indonesia has experience in peacekeeping operations as one of the top 10 contributors to United Nations missions, including in Lebanon, and has been deeply involved in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, including funding a hospital.
But many Indonesians are sceptical of President Prabowo Subianto's plans to join Washington's proposed Board of Peace and participate in the International Security Force (ISF) with only vague details so far on how they will operate, seeing it as simply kowtowing to Trump's agenda as the two countries negotiate a trade deal.
“We need to be careful to ensure that our military personnel are not supporting the Israeli military forces,” said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a Middle East expert with Jakarta’s Centre of Economic and Law Studies. “We need to be careful that our military forces are not fighting against wrong actors.”
UN peacekeeping forces all have clear and strict mandates, but since the Board of Peace and ISF will operate outside the UN, many wonder how the troops will be used, and who will pay for them. Last year's ceasefire agreement broadly says that the ISF will “provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza” and will “work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas”.
Indonesia currently is paid by the UN for the troops it sends to serve as peacekeepers, but people fear it will have to pick up the tab for the troops sent to Gaza, as well as a possible USD 1 billion payment for a permanent place on the Board of Peace, as outlined in a draft charter.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country and firmly supports a two-state solution in the Mideast, and officials have justified joining the Board of Peace by saying it was necessary to defend Palestinian interests from within, since Israel is included on the board but there is no Palestinian representation. “Indonesia sees the importance of the involvement of the parties to the conflict as part of the process towards peace,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yvonne Mewengkang said this week.
She said Indonesia would use its membership to “ensure that the entire process remains oriented towards the interests of Palestine and respects the basic rights of the Palestinian people, as well as encouraging the realisation of a two-state solution”. The Jakarta Post slammed that kind of reasoning in an editorial, however, saying that an “independent Palestinian state, if it emerges at all, is likely decades away.” “Indonesia will end up paying USD 1 billion long before any meaningful outcome is achieved,” Abdul Khalik wrote.
Also read: What will a rebuilt Gaza look like?
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