KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia Walid Abu Ali welcomed Malaysia’s announcement to open an embassy in Jordan accredited to Palestine to enable it to extend aid to the Palestinians more easily.
The ambassador said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement at the 18th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Baku is not surprising, considering Malaysia’s constant solidarity with Palestine.
“Malaysia always put Palestine as top priority on its agenda. On behalf of all Palestinians, and my leadership, we highly appreciate the great support given to Palestine,” he told Bernama in a telephone interview, here, today.
Walid said Malaysia’s move will also encourage many other Muslim countries to do the same, especially those that do not have any diplomatic relations with Israel, in a sign of support and solidarity to Palestine and Palestinians.
“From our perspective, if Jordan is happy and Malaysia is happy... we highly welcome this since Malaysia is unable to have an embassy in Palestine. Jordan is a neighbourhood country and very close with Palestine,” he said.
Palestine currently has an embassy in Kuala Lumpur, while the Ambassador of Malaysia to Egypt is accredited to Palestine.
The ambassador said Palestine has been represented in Malaysia for decades.
It used to be represented by a representative office for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) before it was upgraded to an embassy in 1988 following the Palestine National Council meeting in Algeria the same year.
Malaysia is among the first country to upgrade Palestine’s representation in the country to a full representation — via the establishment of an embassy.
Besides bringing spotlight to the Palestinian issue, Dr Mahathir — in his address to leaders and representatives from 120 NAM member countries — urged those that have relocated (their embassies) to Jerusalem or are planning to do so to reconsider their decision. — Bernama
