Aqsa Working Group Raises Indonesian-Palestinian Flags on Five Mountain Peaks

By: Rana Setiawan, Journalist of Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

On November 15, 1988, 33 years ago, Yasser Arafat declared Palestine as an independent and sovereign state. The declaration was read by Arafat in Algeria with the text written by the prominent Palestinian writer, Mahmoud Darwish.

To this day, 33 years after the declaration, the Palestinian people are still fighting for true independence. Namely, the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, and the end of the Israeli occupation of apartheid in Palestine.

We, the Indonesian people, who promise to participate in the struggle to abolish colonialism on earth as stated in the preamble to the 1945 Constitution, will continue with the Palestinian people.

“As long as the independence of the Palestinian people has not been handed over, so long as the Indonesian people stand against Israel,” said First President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Soekarno.

In order to fulfill the constitutional mandate, the humanitarian agency Aqsa Working Group (AWG) held an activity to hoist the Indonesian and Palestinian flags on several mountain peaks in Indonesia. Namely, Mount Galunggung, Tasikmalaya Regency, West Java; Mount Ciremai, Kuningan Regency, West Java; Mount Cikuray, Garut Regency, West Java; Mount Sikunir Dieng, Wonosobo Regency, Central Java; and Mount Dempo, Pagaralam City, South Sumatra.

The activity is part of a series of Palestine Solidarity Week (PSP2021), welcoming the UN call to set November 29 to be International Solidarity Day for Palestine.

A total of 35 climbers from various regions in West Java climbed and raised the Indonesian and Palestinian flags on the summit of Mount Galunggung, Tasikmalaya, starting Sunday morning. The climbers involved in this activity from the West Java bureau AWG, the West Java Syubban Jama’ah Muslimin (Hizbullah) Council, and West Java Ukhuwah Al-Fatah Rescue (UAR).

The Palestinian flag received from the AWG Trustee Imaam Yakhsyallah Mansur, together with the flag of the Republic of Indonesia and the AWG flag could be hoisted on the highest peak on Mount Galunggung at an altitude of 2,168 meters above sea level (masl), on Monday morning.

Previously, the Indonesian and Palestinian flags were carried by more than 50 cyclists participating in the Al-Aqsa Gowes, Saturday, who traveled about 115 km, starting from the Pusdai Bandung Mosque to Lingga Wangi Village, Leuwi Sari District, Tasikmalaya Regency.

Meanwhile, nine climbers from STAI Al-Fatah Cileungsi Bogor, including one student from the Philippines, and UAR volunteers led by Central AWG administrator Angga Aminuddin managed to raise Indonesian and Palestinian flags at the top of Mount Cikuray, the fourth highest mountain in West Java, which has a height of 2,821 masl, on Saturday.

The climbers from the Central Java Bureau AWG managed to fly the Indonesian and Palestinian flags on Bukit Sikunir Dieng, a phenomenal small hill located in the Dieng Plateau Tourism Area at an altitude of 2,263 masl on Saturday. Precisely east of Sembungan Village, Kejajar District, Wonosobo Regency, Central Java. Sembungan village itself is the highest village on the island of Java.

On Sunday, climbers from AWG Jabodetabek Bureau along with UAR Jabodetabek volunteers made a climb to carry out the raising of the Indonesian and Palestinian flags at the top of the highest mountain in West Java province, Mount Ciremai at an altitude of 3,078 meters above sea level.

Climbers from the AWG Bureau of South Sumatra together with the Syubban Jama’ah Muslimin (Hizbullah) Council and UAR South Sumatra climbed and raised the Indonesian-Palestinian flag on Mount Dempo, the highest mountain in South Sumatra with an altitude of 3195 meters above sea level on Monday.

The mission of raising the Indonesian-Palestinian flag on five mountain peaks in three Indonesian provinces has the first objective of showing concern for the struggle for the liberation of Al-Aqsa and the independence of Palestine. That the Indonesian people will always be with the Palestinians and continue to fight until the Al-Aqsa Mosque is free from the Israeli Zionist invaders.

Second, this activity can also terrify God’s enemies. Third, this activity shows the resistance movement against the Zionists and a form of defense of Al-Aqsa and Palestine. Palestine’s affairs are not only religious matters, but humanitarian affairs.

Aqsa Working Group (AWG) held the International Palestine Solidarity Week on November 22-29 2021 which is an annual event in support of the liberation of the Aqsa Mosque and the independence of Palestine.

This year, with the theme “Moving in Community to Free Al-Aqsa and Palestine,” in addition to the Al-Aqsa Gowes, and the raising of the Palestinian flag on the mountain top, AWG will also hold the launch of the book “Liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Obligation of All Muslims”, a photo exhibition, Millennial Peacemaker Forum Talkshow, Palestine Film Roadshow.

Aqsa Working Group (AWG) is an institution formed in order to accommodate and manage the efforts of the Muslims to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque and assist the struggle of the Palestinian people.

AWG was established by components of the people who attended the Al-Aqsa International Conference which was held at Wisma Antara Jakarta on 20 Sha’ban 1429H/ 21 August 2008 in Jakarta.(T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)