Malaysia today criticised the Israeli government for banning former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad from entering Jerusalem, saying the city "is not theirs".

Mahathir, whose comments have in the past infuriated Jews, was visiting the West Bank when he was prevented from entering Jerusalem on Monday.

"Jerusalem is not theirs (Israel's) ... It is an open town that anyone can visit," said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, describing the ban as arrogant.

Mahathir's only intention in visiting the area was to see and understand the situation for himself, Najib told the official Bernama news agency.

"Mahathir indirectly wants to help find a political solution in keeping with the decision of the world to set up peace in Palestine," he said.

The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qorei, also criticised the Israeli action, and Mahathir told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah: "I hope that my next visit will be to Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state."

No advance info

The Israeli authorities, who control the entrance into towns throughout most of the West Bank as well as the border into Jordan, said they had received no advance warning of Mahathir's arrival.

"We received no request to facilitate the visit. We weren't aware he was coming, so we didn't deal with it," said a foreign ministry spokesman, pointing out that Israel has no diplomatic relations with Malaysia.

Mahathir, who championed the Palestinian cause during his 22 years in power before retiring in October last year, said he was visiting the West Bank as a show of solidarity with the Palestinians.

The former prime minister had caused uproar in Israel just before his retirement in 2003 by saying that Jews rule the world by proxy, getting others to fight and die for them.