Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts

    JAKARTA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Tuesday that the Indonesian government supports persistently the struggle of the Palestinian people to grasp their rights and sovereignty.

    "Israel's unproportionally all-out on Hamas with a great number of fatalities is an unforgettable human tragedy," the national Antara News Agency on Tuesday quoted President Yudhoyono as saying.

    Indonesia strongly condemned the Israeli air strikes and urged the United Nations to take concrete steps to bring the aggression to an end, Yudhoyono said.

    "We invite all parties to help stop the Israeli attacks and we will continue to support the Palestinian struggle," he said.

    President Yudhoyono earlier sent a letter to the U.N. and U.N. Security Council on Monday, calling on the institution to halt Israel's strikes on Gaza Strip through a resolution.

    "Indonesia finds it necessary for the UN Security Council to make a formal meeting and issue a resolution to force Israel halt its aggression," Yudhoyono said.

    In his letter, President Yudhoyono also called on Israel and Palestine to return to the peace process like what they did half year ago.

    The president said that he would keep an intense contact with Indonesian permanent representative at the United Nations, Marty Natalegawa, so that he could obtain information about measures taken by the UN Security Council to have Israel stop its military attack.