JAKARTA -- Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made a surprise stopover in Indonesia Friday and conferred with President Suharto in a diplomatic gain for Israel with the world's most populous Muslim nation.
'We had a meeting which in my eyes was of primary importance,' Rabin told Israel Radio during an interview conducted as he headed for Singapore, his next stop before returning to Israel Sunday.
Rabin, who arrived in Indonesia secretly after an official visit to China, said the meeting with Suharto had been enabled by last month's historic peace agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Indonesia is a long-time supporter of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and officially welcomed the PLO-Israel accord.
Rabin said the agreement, which was clinched with his historic handshake on the White House lawn with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and subsequent peace talks with the PLO that opened this week in Taba and Cairo, Egypt have 'opened new horizons for the state of Israel.'
Suharto is head of the non-aligned movement, which has traditionally sided with the Palestinians in their dispute with Israel and sought over the years to ostracize the Jewish state.
Indonesian Secretary of State Murdiono said, 'The decision taken by Suharto to receive the (Rabin's) visit was because NAM pushed for the enforcement of the Israel-Palestine peace agreement,' Murdiono said.
Indonesia and Israel have discretely been forging closer ties in recent months, Israeli officials said.
Rabin said he asked Suharto, who recently hosted Arafat in Jakarta, to throw the non-aligned movement's weight behind the peace agreement.
'My main goal is that the organization of non-aligned states will support the process and the agreements reached and that this will allow wide support in that part of the world, among those states that oppose or have reservations about the agreements,' Rabin said.
He described his discussions at a presidential palace in Jakarta as 'friendly' but added that he did not expect diplomatic ties to be established rapidly with Indonesia.
Oded Ben-Ami, a spokesman for Rabin, declined to say when the meeting had been arranged. Murdiono said the meeting came at Rabin's request and that Suharto agreed after careful consideration of precedent.
Israel Radio reported that a senior Indonesian official met recently with an Israeli diplomat based in Singapore to set up Rabin's visit.
Murdiono said the meeting between Rabin and Suharto did not signal an immediate opening of diplomatic relations.
'Although bilateral relations was touched upon during the talks, the possibility of opening diplomatic ties would be adjusted to further developments,' Murdiono said.
