SHARM EL-SHEIKH, May 21: Malaysia pledged on Sunday to donate 16 million dollars to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority after a Western aid freeze left its Hamas-led government in financial crisis.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the pledge at a meeting of political and business leaders at the World Economic Conference (WEF) in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Abdullah, current chairman of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said Arab and Islamic countries had a duty to “lighten the load on the Palestinian people who are suffering”. The US and the European Union, which is the main donor to the Palestinians giving 500 million euros a year, both suspended aid after Hamas won elections in January.—AFP