Malaysia will recognize a Palestinian state when it is proclaimed, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said after meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Tuesday.
"We accept their envoy as ambassador to Malaysia and we will send our envoy to Palestine when they declare independence," he told reporters.
Arafat is on an Asian tour canvassing support for a statehood declaration on September 13th after the failure of the Camp David peace talks.
He arrived from Vietnam and is due to go on to Indonesia and Japan.
Mahathir, quoted by the official Bernama news agency, said he believed most countries would recognise Palestine. He received Arafat at the new administrative capital of Putrajaya south of Kuala Lumpur.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said earlier that Malaysia would ask the Organisation of the Islamic Conference meeting in Tehran on August 20th to help bring peace to the Middle East.
"We will make our position known at the meeting and will ask fellow members to initiate action to end the conflict between Palestine and Israel peacefully," he added.
Malaysia is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause. Arafat has visited the country several times before, most recently last October.
Israel's interim Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami on Monday warned the Palestinians against the unilateral declaration of a state, warning that such a move could sink the peace process.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin told Arafat Monday he hoped he would pick an "appropriate" time to declare independence.
In Hanoi President Tran Duc Luong expressed support for the Palestinians' right to an independent state. It was not clear whether he backed its proclamation on September 13th -- KUALA LUMPUR (AFP)
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