Malaysia demands full UN membership for Palestine

Malaysia's prime minister on Wednesday said his country delivered its wish to the UN chief to accept Palestine as a full member of the United Nations.

In a statement, Premier Anwar Ibrahim said the message was delivered to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres by his Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan.

"Alhamdulillah, the desire of the people and leadership of Malaysia for Palestine to be accepted as a full member of the United Nations (UN) and the call for a ceasefire was personally delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the UN Secretary-General in New York on 23 January 2024," said Ibrahim in a statement posted on X.

He added that his message was delivered in line with the UN secretary-general's recent statement at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Kampala, Uganda, that the right of the Palestinian people to build an independent state cannot be denied.

"Peace and tranquility can only be achieved and maintained if real rights are returned to the rightful," the Malaysian premier said.

The Malaysian leader added that his country maintains its principled stance that Palestine has the right to form an independent and sovereign state based on the pre-1967 border lines, with Jerusalem as its capital.

"If oppression, violence, deprivation of rights, and apartheid policies are allowed to spread, there will be no safe end in life. Surely one day, now or in the future, those who are oppressed and denied all rights will rise up against such injustice," he said.

Last week, Prime Minister Ibrahim and his Cabinet ministers signed special postcards addressed to the UN chief, urging the world body to recognize Palestinian nationhood.

Earlier, the unity government led by Anwar also banned port calls or docking by any Israeli-flagged vessel in Malaysia.

Israel has pounded Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 25,490 Palestinians and injuring 63,354. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.