Amnesty Indonesia is right, the Foreign Ministry is wrong: Quit Trump’s Board of Peace

On Thursday, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry defended the country’s seat on the Board of Peace. Ministry spokesperson Vahd Nabyl Mulachela said joining the Board is part of Indonesia’s effort to support Palestine and help rebuild Gaza. He hoped the Board could lead to an independent Palestine living next to Israel.

He was answering Amnesty International Indonesia. A day earlier, its director, Usman Hamid, said the Board was a mistake from the very beginning and that Indonesia still has time to leave. He spoke in Jakarta after an event with Francesca Albanese, the United Nations expert on the occupied Palestinian territories. Usman said the Board is controlled by the United States, a country that fully supports Israel and its military campaign that has killed so many Palestinian civilians.

The real question is whether the Board of Peace is the right tool. Amnesty says it is not, and Amnesty is right.

The ministry’s hope is understandable. But hope is not a plan. The way the Board actually works tells a different story.

Neil Quilliam, a researcher at Chatham House, a respected think tank in London, studied the Board’s design in February. He explained that real power sits with the Board and its chairman, Trump. Daily decisions go to a Gaza Executive Board, which has no Palestinian members. A foreign military force keeps security.

There is a Palestinian committee of 15 people, but Israel checked and approved its members under American supervision. In simple words, outsiders choose who speaks for Palestinians, and those Palestinians get very little power.

Quilliam also pointed out that the UN Security Council decision backing the plan does not promise a Palestinian state. It only says statehood might become possible after many conditions are met, such as Gaza giving up all its weapons and the Palestinian Authority carrying out reforms. Until then, Gaza and the West Bank stay separated, at least until the end of 2027, when the Board’s mandate ends. By that time, he warns, it may be too late.

The rebuilding plan is no better. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, has presented a New Gaza with new districts designed to look like Dubai. Quilliam argues the plan treats Gaza like empty beach property, not as part of a Palestinian homeland, and that Palestinians were barely consulted. Building will start in New Rafah, an area under Israeli army control, and Israel and its partners may decide which Palestinians can live there. The likely result, in his view, is two Gazas: one clean, disarmed and closely watched, and another left in ruins, where most Palestinians live.

READ: Why Indonesia joined the Badr pact, and what it must do next

Then there is the West Bank. In February, Israel’s security cabinet approved new rules that widen Israeli control there and make it easier to take Palestinian land. As Quilliam notes, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel would “continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state.” The Board of Peace has no power over any of this. It only looks at Gaza.

Most painful of all, the killing has not stopped. In September, Hamas urged the Board to stop Israeli attacks on Gaza. This week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that attacks by Israeli settlers are meant to push Palestinians off their land.

A body that cannot stop bombs in Gaza or land grabs in the West Bank is not bringing peace. It is only managing the damage on terms that suit Israel.

The ministry says Indonesia can steer the Board from the inside. Yet the same spokesperson admitted that Indonesia has put all its discussions in the Board on hold while it watches events in the Middle East. If Indonesia has already stepped back, what influence is it really using?

Staying also has a price. Indonesia has a proud history of standing with Palestine at the United Nations. Indonesia’s name on the Board makes a process built without Palestinians look more acceptable to the world. That works against the very cause Indonesia says it defends.

There is a better road. Amnesty has called on Indonesia to make full use of its place at the UN. Indonesia can work with Arab, Asian and European countries to protect the goal of a Palestinian state, push for sanctions when international law is broken, and help Palestinian groups unite. Even Quilliam says governments must move beyond statements and apply real pressure, or the chance of a Palestinian state will disappear.

Indonesia says it wants to help Palestine. Leaving the Board of Peace would show the world that it means it.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.