KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (Bernama) — Malaysian government plans to expand the existing special division on the Palestinian issue at the Malaysian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt to facilitate efforts to provide assistance to the Palestinian people, said Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaffar.
He said the proposal was being considered if the intention to set up a Malaysian diplomatic representative office for Palestine in Amman, Jordan was not successful.
“Our government has for the past few years had a special division on Palestine at our embassy in Cairo. Then there was the suggestion that we set up a specific embassy in Amman, Jordan.
“The government and Wisma Putra (Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry) have decided that although there is no specific embassy, subject to the stand of the host government, then a special divisionon Palestine will be established that is larger than the one at our (Malaysian) embassy in Cairo,” he said.
He said this in reply to a Special Chamber motion brought by Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (a Member of Parliament) on the government’s action against Israel’s plan to annex occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley.
Elaborating, Kamarudin said Malaysia was always consistent in protesting and strongly condemning any Israeli action that sought to disrupt the rights and peace of the Palestinian people.
Earlier, among the proposals put forward by Syed Ibrahim was that Malaysia, through the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations (UN) should expel Israel from the UN general assembly and all its agencies for failing to fulfill its obligations as a member of the UN.
Apart from that, he also suggested that a petition be signed by all members of Parliament (MPs) from both sides of the divide to give a clear signal to oppose the plan, besides proposing that the petition be submitted to the United States Embassy here and the UN.
The motion was also supported by other MPs namely Hasanuddin Mohd Yunus (PH-Hulu Langat), Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) and Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (PAS-Sik).
— BERNAMA