Jakarta - Thousands protested outside the
U.S. Embassy in the Indonesian capital on Sunday against U.S.
President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as
Israel's capital, many waving banners saying "Palestine is in
our hearts".
Leaders in Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim
population, have joined a global chorus of condemnation of
Trump's announcement, including Western allies who say it is a
blow to peace efforts and risks sparking more violence.
Thousands of protesters in Muslim-majority countries in Asia
have rallied in recent days to condemn the U.S. move.
Israel maintains that all of Jerusalem is its capital.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future
independent state and say Trump's move has left them completely
sidelined.
Palestinian people were among the first to recognise
Indonesia's independence in 1945, Sohibul Iman, president of the
controversial Islamist opposition Prosperous Justice Party which
organised the rally, told protesters.
Indonesia should be more proactive in "urging the
Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) member states and U.N.
Security Council and the international community to respond
immediately with more decisive and concrete political and
diplomatic actions in saving the Palestinians from the Israeli
occupation and its collaborator, the United States of America,"
Iman said.
"Indonesia as the world's largest Muslim country has the
largest responsibility toward the independence of Palestine and
the management of Jerusalem," he told reporters, adding that he
hoped Indonesia would take a leading role within the OIC on the
matter.
"Trump has disrupted world peace. It's terrible," one
protester, Yusri, told Reuters.
The decision was "a major disaster for the Palestinian
people, while the Palestinian's own rights have been taken away
for a long time," said Septi, a student at the rally.
Violence erupted for a third day in Gaza on Saturday in
response to Trump's decision, which overturned decades of U.S.
policy towards the Middle East.
Indonesia's foreign minister left for Jordan on Sunday to
meet the Palestinian and Jordanian foreign ministers "to convey
Indonesia's full support for Palestine".