Indonesia to invite leaders of Hamas and Europe for meeting

Indonesia will invite leaders of Hamas and Europe for a meeting in the country no later than March to help the settlement of the crisis in Palestine, Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Spokesman of the ministry Desra Percaya told a press briefing that the meeting aimed at listening the views of Hamas leaders about the way to settle the crisis from their side and help release blocked-tax revenue for Palestine.

Percaya said that there was a necessity to engage Hamas, which won the parliamentary election in January last year.

"The meeting will be held no later than at the end of March," said Percaya.

"We will invite (several leaders of) Hamas and some individual from Europe," he said.

European Union is one of the quartet of key diplomatic players along with the United States, United Nations, and Russia, which have waited and see towards the upcoming national unity government.

But, Percaya said that Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal would not attend the meeting and confirmed that the leader would send his representatives.

The spokesman cited that currently there was no much information about Hamas, such as what was the idea of the faction about the settlement of the conflict.

"There has been no direct information about what Hamas want," said Percaya.

The spokesman said that after the meeting, it would be conducted another meeting involving leaders from Fatah faction.

Regarding to the meeting of the two factions in Mecca between, Indonesia hoped that the international community could support the establishment of the shared-power government in Palestine and to end all boycotts on the country, Percaya said.

"We hope that international community could give their support on the unity government and to release the blocked-revenue tax to Palestine," he said.

"This meeting will complete any decision will be resulted from the meeting in Mecca," said Percaya.

The aid embargo and Israel's decision to stop transferring the tax revenue it collects on the Palestinian Authority's behalf, have exacerbated widespread economic hardship for the country, crippled the government and sharpened the long time rivalry between the two largest political movements in the Palestine.

Indonesia, the biggest Muslim country and has no diplomatic relation with Israel, has long actively contributed on the effort on the peace process on Palestine.

It is account for 87 percent of the Indonesia's 240 million population is Muslim.

Source: Xinhua