Don't tout Palestine visit as a GE gimmick, PM Najib told

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should not use his recent visit to Palestine as a political gimmick for the general election, says Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Whatever it is, he said, Malaysians would not stop supporting the Palestinian cause, their losing their homeland, their rights and of their women and children being killed.

"I differ with the people who want to use the issue as a political gimmick before the election," Anwar said.

"Our (Pakatan Rakyat's) relations with Fatah and Hamas are well known, as well as the ties with the Islamic party PAS... we don't have to recognise them (Palestine) before March," he said, mocking at Najib.

However, he welcomed the effort by Najib to support the Palestinian cause, and, at least for the first time, to recognise Hamas as the legitimate government of the state.

"We should not allow the domestic politics of Malaysia to derail our focus to support the Palestinian cause," Anwar said.

Najib's visit to Palestine has been harped on by the mainstream media for more than a week, welcoming the visit as historic and declaring that many accepted his visit there.

Anwar said this after receiving a five-member delegation from Hamas, led by its political bureau chairperson Dr Walid Alamudi, at the PKR headquarters this morning.

During the visit, the NGO Aqsa Syarif handed over US$700,000 (RM2.175 million) to the Hamas delegation for the rebuilding of the Nur Al Hamidi Mosque in Gaza, which was destroyed in bombing by the Israelis.

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