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Interview: PNA counts on "Bandung Conference" to push Palestinian cause

Xinhua, April 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

A senior Palestinian National Authority (PNA) official on Tuesday called on the countries joining the Asian-African Conference (AAC), also known as Bandung Conference, held in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta to back the Palestinian people and their cause.

The PNA hopes the conference would recommend at the end of its sessions to hold an international peace conference to end the conflict in the Middle East which has been going on for many decades, Tayesser Jaradat, the Palestinian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

"The vast majority of those countries represent a historic backing to the struggle of the Palestinian people," Jaradat told Xinhua at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, adding that "We hope the summit in Jakarta would also recommend a continuation of this historic support."

On Sunday, the Palestinian delegation headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah left for Indonesia to participate in the conference.

Jaradat noted that the Palestinians are looking forward to meeting those countries, which represent large part of the world and are influential in the international policies "to back us and our cause in the international community."

In commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference and 10th anniversary of the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP), Indonesia planned a series of high level events under the theme "Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity" in Jakarta and Bandung on April 19 to 24.

In 1955, 29 Asian-African countries gathered in Bandung to discuss independence, peace and economic prosperity, adopting a final communique containing 10 principles which laid foundation for international relations, such as mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence.

"The Palestinians are in need for the implementation of the principles of the Bandung Conference held in Indonesia in 1955, which enforced the principles of peaceful coexistence among countries," Jaradat said, adding that "these principles helped many nations to get rid of occupations of their countries."

The Palestinians "are living under the last occupation in the world, therefore, we are in need for implementing these principles on us, because our people suffer from tragedies resulted by the Israeli occupation of our land," he noted.

"It is time for the international community to reconsider and rethink about the question of the Israeli occupation and exert more pressure to end this occupation," Jaradat added. "We had given all chances to peace to succeed, we made all needed concessions and we accepted the principle of the two-state solution."

On Monday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in Jakarta that the Palestine issue will be on the agenda of the Asian-African Summit 2015 and the Commemoration of the 60th Bandung Conference.

While on the same day, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki also said in Jakarta that Palestine's independence effort needs the world's solidarity, especially from the countries in Asia and Africa.

"The countries, which convene in Jakarta, can help a lot the Palestinians and their just cause throughout those countries' representatives and ambassadors in the UN Security Council and can be so influential," Jaradat said, adding that "these efforts can bring more recognition of a Palestinian state from other countries."

Three years ago, the Palestinians launched a diplomatic campaign which aimed at promoting the diplomatic representations of the Palestinians in the international community and agencies.

In 2012, the United Nations promoted its position to a non-member observer state. On April 1, 2015, the Palestinians also became a member in the International Criminal Court.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians are also planning to resubmit a bid to the UN Security Council to get a resolution that ends the Israeli occupation.

The AAC Commemoration is aimed to conclude three outcome documents, namely document contained Bandung Message, document on reinvigorating NAASP, and declaration regarding Asian-African nations' support to Palestine, according to the AAC official website. Endit