Tuesday, 2 June 2009 | 7:35 PM

BOGOR, KOMPAS.com - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has thanked Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari for the Indonesian people’s medical assistance for Palestinians following the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip. "In addition, the Palestinian premier also expressed formal support for the construction of an Indonesian hospital in Gaza," chief of the presidium of the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), Sarbini Abdul Murad, said here on Tuesday.

The volunteer medical organization, along with an Indonesian humanitarian mission led by the chief of the health ministry’s crisis control center, Rustam S Pakaya, early this year provided medical assistance to the Palestinian people who had fallen victim to the Israeli military aggression. MER-C was now in the process of making preparations for the construction of an Indonesian hospital in Gaza and had received support from at least 15 other non-governmental organizations in Indonesia for its initiative.

The NGOs included the Quick Response Action (ACT), the Indonesian Committee for Palestine Solidarity (Kispa), the Indonesian Red Crescent (BSMI), and the Indonesian Islamic Propagation Council (DDII). In a letter dated May 3, 2009 to the chief of Team II of the MER-C for Palestine, Dr Arief Rachman, Premier Haniya had also stated that his government had prepared a 1.5-hectare plot of land in North Gaza for the construction of the hospital, Sarbini said.