Indonesia has decided that its foreign policy in 2017 will focus on intensifying interactions with other countries to protect the nation`s interests, security, ideological objectives, and economic prosperity. To this end, the country continues to participate in implementing world order based on freedom, lasting peace, and social justice. Creating a peaceful world is also one of the national goals outlined in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Gaza blockade, which will reach its tenth year in June, makes it impossible for Palestinians living there to engage with Palestinians living in the remainder of the Palestinian territory – the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Things changed when Nawal heard of the ‘Virtual Majilis’, an online exchange platform run by UNICEF to help connect students in Gaza with students in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The Malaysian Medical Relief Society (Mercy Malaysia) today entered Gaza, Palestine, through the Rafah border crossing in Egypt to deliver humanitarian aid to the people there. According to the volunteer association, the mission this time is the first humanitarian mission allowed to enter through the Rafah border since Mercy Malaysia’s last working visit in 2014.

The Israeli-Palestinian controversy is among the most sensitive and lasting issues in global politics. The 68-year war continues to spark debates among politicians, organizations and local citizens throughout the world. And it has encouraged one Metro Detroiter to join the two sides through food. Mana Heshmati started Peace Meal Kitchen, a gastro-diplomacy pop-up restaurant in Detroit, to gather people around a table, sharing food and exchanging cultural ideas. 

The United States announced on Tuesday three new educational initiatives that would benefit Palestinians, according to a press statement by the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem. The initiatives were announced at the conclusion of the first ever U.S.-Palestinian Higher Education Dialogue held in the United States.

On International Youth Day, which is celebrated annually on Aug. 12, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chose Palestinian youth Hussein Murtaja from Gaza City to be part of the Advisory Group of Experts for Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security. [...] This group includes 21 youth experts who work in the framework of a project with the aim of finding a new role the youth can play in peace and security building.

At the forefront of the crisis, Palestinians from the humanitarian organization Humanity Crew can be found dealing with the most harrowing scenes to hit European shores in modern history. Launched less than a year ago in Haifa as a response to the Syrian war, the organization is leading the way in delivering mental health and psychosocial support to refugees from Syria to Sudan.