Malaysia plans to hold the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) special ministerial meeting earlier than scheduled following a request by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (photo right).

Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the request, following the latest development in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, was conveyed via Palestinian ambassador to Malaysia Ahmad Al-Farra today.

"We want to organise the meeting earlier because we now feel the urgency of the new development. The Palestinians expect the OIC to play a role to put the road map on its track," he told Bernama in an interview.

Malaysia, which is the chair of the OIC, had initially slated the meeting for May 4. However, the minister did not reveal the new date.

Tension in the Middle East escalated after United States President George W Bush said yesterday following a meeting with Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Israel may retain some portions of the Arab land it captured in the 1967 war.

OIC's proposals

Commenting on this, Syed Hamid said the US endorsement of the new proposal by Sharon was not going to contribute to peace and prosperity in the West Asia conflict.

"I think the original road map which was agreed upon will be derailed and I don't think the new proposal will add value towards achieving peace in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," he added.

He said the OIC special ministerial meeting could forward some proposals to the US so that they could take the views of countries in the OIC on the new Israeli proposal

On Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, Syed Hamid said: "This does not mean they are doing it out of favour or in wanting to achieve peace...because they created a new problem.

"They have created a unilateral new border that will allow them to have incursion into Palestine any time," he added.

The OIC special ministerial meeting is expected to be attended by 12 nations, which are chairs of various committees in the OIC.

The Iraq issue is also scheduled to be discussed. Malaysia, as chairman of the Non-Alligned Movement (NAM), also planned to call a meeting of either the NAM troika (South Africa, Malaysia and Cuba) or Friends of Chair in the third week of May.

Multilateralism important

Meanwhile, on the Sixth Asem Foreign Ministers meeting to be held in Dublin over the weekend, Syed Hamid said Malaysia would highlight the importance of multilaterism as an effective mechanism for creating a better international order.

"Malaysia will give its views, taking into account the views of our friends in countries of NAM and OIC," he added.

The minister said the meeting, themed "Building on Multilateral Cooperation between Asia and Europe", was important as Malaysia felt that the world was not going to be a better, peaceful and stable place unless its community respects multilaterism.

Syed Hamid said this meant conflicts and differences should be resolved through dialogues and interaction, under the ambit of the United Nations.

"If we abandon multilaterism, we face serious consequences, instability and threat to peace and security," he added .