REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Japan and Indonesia have started a triangular cooperation by expanding training and education to improve the living standard of the Palestinian people.
One of the cooperation projects was carried out last December with 10 Palestinians came to Indonesia to learn agricultural-related techniques and educational training supported by Japan.
According to Japanese ambassador to Indonesia Masafumi Ishii, his country has also been doing the creation of agricultural industry near the West Bank, where Japan trying to form cooperation not only with Indonesia and Palestine but also with Israel.
"Because practically speaking if we seek for the development of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, we need to also cooperate with the Israelis for transportation, infrastructure and other purposes," Ishii said during a special interview with Antara on Wednesday.
Trying to open the "corridor for peace and prosperity", Japanese government considers the efforts to increase the living standard of the Palestinians as important to prepare them to be more ready for the peace negotiations to resolve prolonged conflict with the Israelis.
The improvement of the Palestinians' prosperity is expected to encourage more stability and push the sense of negotiation to solve the issue.
"I hope those small but very important projects will make some differences," ambassador Ishii noted.
Japan and Indonesia were among 128 of majority countries that voted for the resolution on the status of Jerusalem at the UN General Assembly in last December, which automatically rejected the US President Donald Trump's plan to move the US embassy of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The resolution reiterates the long-standing position of the Security Council in several resolutions dating back five decades, rejecting Israel's sovereignty claims over Jerusalem, the holy city revered by Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
Without pinpointing to the US, the Egypt-drafted resolution also reiterates the Council's view that no country should establish an embassy in Jerusalem, and that the city's status is an issue to be resolved by Israel and Palestine.
Japan and Indonesia, that will celebrate their 60th anniversary of bilateral relations this year, believe that the conflict between Palestine and Israel has to be resolved through negotiations between the two sides in charge, which include the discussion on the status of Jerusalem.
In order to promote such two state solution, the international community has an important task to continue creating a situation where Palestine and Israel become more ready to sit down and start serious negotiations.
"Because after all, they are the ones that should do the negotiations and what we can do is creating an atmosphere of where they can do it," Ishii stated.
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