TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Israeli government is hoping for more visits from Indonesian notables to its country in an effort to create dialog between the two sides.
“Not only clergymen, but we also want to invite politicians, businessmen, artists and journalists,” said the Israeli Ambassador to Singapore, Illan Ben Dov, when contacted by Tempo via cellular phone yesterday (16/12).
According to Ben Dov, Indonesian and Israeli people need a dialog to eliminate misunderstandings as well as to build understanding and trust in each other.
This is because ignorance, he said, has spread radical Islamic ideology.
“The Palestine-Israel conflict is not a religious conflict, but rather a conflict over the seizing of territory,” he said.
Therefore, Ben Dov welcomed the visit of five Indonesian Muslim intellectuals to Israel between 2 and 8 December.
They were Syaif Mughni (Head of the East Java Muhammadiyah Regional Management), Abdul A'la (a lecturer at Sunan Ampel State Islamic University, Surabaya), Badrun Alaina (a lecturer at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta), Abdul Qadir (a lecturer at Alauddin State Islamic University, Makassar) and Dr Nuryadi (a lecturer at Hamka University, Jakarta).
They went at the invitation of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the LibForAll Foundation, which was set up by former president Abdurrahman Wahid together with C. Holland Taylor.
“Our mission is not politics, but peace,” said A'la.
He also said that during his visit the group went to Sderot, a city in Southern Israel which was just abandoned by the mayor as it was bombarded by Palestinian soldiers every day, and the Gaza Strip.
A'la said he hoped that a sincere, honest and just dialog would continue to be developed, instead of terror and violence.
Faisal Assegaf
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