Envoy Hopes More Indonesian Tourists To Visit Palestine

Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Fariz Mehdawi has expressed hope that more Indonesian tourists would visit Palestine in the coming years not only as a way to show their solidarity for the Palestinian people but also to support the Palestine's economy."Around 15,000 Indonesian tourists visited Palestine this year," Ambassador Fariz Mehdawi told Antara new agency in a recent interview.Palestine received a total of 1.5 million foreign tourists last year.

As part of of the capacity building cooperation with the Indonesian government, a number of Palestinian tourist guides recently concluded a six-month Bahasa Indonesia training programme organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.In anticipation of an increase in the flow of Indonesian tourists to Palestine, more Palestinian tourist guides would come to Jakarta for the programme to master the the Indonesian language, the ambassador said.

By visiting Palestine, Indonesians would be able to have direct contacts with Palestinian people, and to see personally the achievements as well as obstacles in Palestine, he said.Indonesian Muslim tourists could visit Al-Aqsa, Muslims' first qibla (direction for prayers) and one of Islam's three holiest mosques.
"Al-Aqsa belongs to Muslims. Visiting Al-Aqsa means protecting Al-Aqsa," Ambassador Fariz Mehdawi said.

If Muslims love Al-Aqsa, they must not abandon it while Christians will be able to visit Bethlehem and Jerusalem, he stated.Palestine also hopes to establish direct trade relations with Indonesia, according to the envoy.Several Palestinian businessmen had visited Indonesia some time ago to explore business opportunities, he said.

Source=bernama