OIC hopeless to end Palestinian conflict: Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, June 15: Mainly Muslim Malaysia criticised Palestinian factions today over the escalating Gaza conflict and said the Organisation of Islamic Conference grouping, which it chairs, was ''hopeless'' to end the crisis.

In a rare public rebuke of the Palestinians, Malaysia's foreign minister said President Mahmoud Abbas' dismissal of the Hamas-led Palestinian government would not help resolve the conflict.

''It's like giving a good excuse to Israel and to those who say there's no need to implement the peace plan,'' Syed Hamid Albar said. ''It will frustrate the goal to create a Palestinian state.'' ''The OIC is in the state of hopelessness. We got limits to what we can do,'' he told reporters.

Malaysia has been the chair of the 57-nation OIC, the world's biggest grouping of Islamic nations, since 2003.

Western-backed Abbas yesterday dismissed the Hamas-led Palestinian government and declared a state of emergency as the Islamist group's gunmen routed his last forces in Gaza and seized effective control.

While Washington rallied support for Abbas, Hamas stormed the remaining strongholds of his secular Fatah group in the Gaza Strip yesterday, finally seizing the presidential compound, the last bastion of Abbas's authority in the coastal territory.

Medics said at least 30 people were killed yesterday, taking the death toll to more than 110 in six days of conflict which leaves an aggressive Islamist entity on Israel's borders.

Syed Hamid, who later met OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in the Malaysian capital, said it was up to the Hamas and Fatah factions to resolve their differences.

''Malaysia is disappointed and sad. The OIC has taken several steps but that does not mean we will forget about the struggle of the Palestinians. We hope they will have a give-and-take, and reopen a dialogue.'' Ihsanoglu, who has ruled out an international force along the Gaza-Egypt border to help counter Hamas' growing strength, called today for an immediate halt to the fighting.

''I think the situation is very critical, very tense. There is a need to stop the deterioration after the dismissal of the government,'' he said after talks with Syed Hamid.

Reuters
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