High-level Jakarta visit strengthens humanitarian and cultural partnerships with Indonesian institutions
Following the successful launch of Taawon’s Malaysia fundraising campaign for Gaza’s orphaned children, Taawon (The Welfare Association) and the Palestinian Museum concluded a high-level visit to Indonesia aimed at preparing the ground for a similar campaign in support of Taawon’s Noor Program, while deepening cultural and heritage partnerships between Palestine and Indonesia.
As part of the visit, the delegation met with Dr. Fadli Zon, Indonesia’s Minister of Culture, to discuss ways to strengthen Indonesian-Palestinian cooperation in support of the Palestinian people, their cultural heritage, and urgent humanitarian needs.
The visit formed part of a wider Southeast Asia engagement by Taawon and the Palestinian Museum, connecting humanitarian action for Gaza’s orphaned children with efforts to preserve Palestinian memory, identity, culture, and heritage — particularly at a time when Palestinian communities and cultural institutions face unprecedented destruction and displacement.
Taawon Director-General Dr. Tareq Emtairah said: “The scale of loss in Gaza demands more than short-term relief. The genocide war since October 2023 has left 64,000 children orphaned, more than half of them below the age of six. Through the Noor Program, Taawon is already caring for 20,000 of these children, but the responsibility ahead is generational.”
He added: “These children need safety, education, health care, and sustained psychosocial support. Many wake in fear, carrying the trauma of bombardment and the loss of their families. Our commitment is to stand with them until they reach the age of 18, and we hope to work with Indonesia’s institutions and civil society to help give them a life of dignity, stability, and hope.”
In this context, the delegation sought the Minister’s guidance and support in strengthening partnerships in Indonesia for Taawon’s Noor Program, the largest orphan support program in Palestine. The program provides long-term care for orphaned children in Gaza, including education, health care, psychosocial support, protection, and pathways to dignified living until adulthood.
The visit also opened a promising new track with Indonesian civil society. Taawon held constructive meetings with Dompet Dhuafa, Rumah Zakat, and Human Initiative — three major Indonesian humanitarian and zakat-based organizations — to begin exploring partnerships around the Noor Program. The discussions focused on how Indonesia’s strong public solidarity with Palestine can be translated into sustained, organized support for Gaza’s orphaned children.
Taawon said the meetings were an important first step toward building a national partnership platform in Indonesia for the Noor Program, bringing together humanitarian organizations, civil society networks, and public supporters around a long-term commitment to the welfare and dignity of Gaza’s children.
Alongside preparations for the Noor campaign in Indonesia, the delegation discussed several priority areas of cultural cooperation. These included ongoing efforts related to the Islamic Museum within the Al Aqsa Compound in Jerusalem, including re-curation and modernization, digitization and multilingual accessibility, and the broader protection of Jerusalem’s cultural and civilizational identity.
During the visit, the Palestinian Museum delegation also met with representatives of Indonesia’s National Museum to explore possible future collaboration. Discussions covered exhibitions, archives and digitization, museum exchange, artistic collaboration, preservation of cultural heritage, and public education initiatives that can connect Indonesian and Palestinian historical experiences.
The delegation welcomed the Ministry’s support and guidance in helping deepen and institutionalize cultural partnerships between Indonesia and Palestine, particularly in areas that preserve Palestinian heritage, protect Jerusalem’s identity and Waqf heritage, and bring Palestinian history and culture closer to wider Southeast Asian audiences.
Taawon and the Palestinian Museum said the Indonesia visit marked an important step in expanding regional solidarity into long-term, practical partnerships. Building on the momentum generated in Malaysia, the organizations reaffirmed their commitment to working with partners across Southeast Asia to support Gaza’s orphaned children, strengthen Palestinian civil society, protect cultural memory, and advance shared humanitarian and cultural action.
