Indonesia has sent a humanitarian aid mission to the Middle East

RI mission in Jordan, seeks to enter Gaza

Erwida Maulia, , The Jakarta Post, , Jakarta

Indonesia has sent a humanitarian aid mission to the Middle East, bringing medicines along with a team of medical doctors amid uncertainty as to whether the team can get into the Gaza Strip and reach the Palestinians in need.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said a team of 15 Indonesians, consisting of officials from the Foreign Affairs and Health ministries, medical doctors from the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee Indonesia (MER-C) and two other NGOs, and some journalists had arrived in Amman, Jordan, and was scheduled to meet with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas through the help of the Indonesian embassy in the Jordanian capital.

He said the team brought medicines weighing almost two tons and worth Rp 260 million (US$23,636).

"The team has met with Palestinian health minister Fathi Abu Moghli in the Palestinian embassy in Amman and symbolically handed over the medicines and financial aid. It is scheduled to meet later on with Mahmud Abbas," Teuku told The Jakarta Post here Saturday.

According to Teuku, the team was also tasked with examining the best pathway to channel the aid to the Gazans, with Israel strictly monitoring all possible entrances to the isolated, bombarded area.

He said while the aid might be channeled through the Egyptian border or through a Jordanian charity organization having been approved by Israel, the financial aid worth Rp 2 billion was presently still deposited in Indonesia.

"The team is expected to send recommendations to Jakarta as to which way we should transfer the financial aid and what other aid we might also need to send," he said.

MER-C executive secretary Rima Manzanarif said Saturday night that besides an orthopedist and a non-medical worker who have already arrived in Amman with the government-led team, the organization would also send three other volunteers to Gaza, comprising an anesthetic specialist, a general practitioner and a non-medical worker.

She said the teams carried medication and surgery equipment and would buy other necessary equipment in Egypt.

Rima said a number of doctors had also stated their willingness to depart to the conflict area.

Head of Indonesia's National Committee for Palestinians, Suripto, told the Post that he would lead a team on a humanitarian aid mission to Gaza as soon as a pathfinder who had already arrived in Egypt found the best pathway for channeling the aid.

The committee, founded by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), had managed to collect nearly Rp 2 billion of financial aids from donators and would spend the money in Egypt after first identifying what sort of aid the Gazans actually needed.

Indonesia's Red Cross and the Islamic-based Crescent Star Party are also among those collecting financial aid for Palestine; while a few Muslim organizations, including the Islamic Defenders Front, are reportedly collecting jihadis to be sent to the war zone.

Antara reported that a number of protesters staged rallies Saturday in several cities -- including Yogyakarta, the East Java towns of Malang, Jember and Kediri; Medan in North Sumatra and Tanjung Pinang in the Riau Islands -- condemning Israel for continuing its brutal actions and the United States for supporting them.