A meeting of select envoys of the Palestinian Committee on Non-Aligned Movement due to convene in the West Bank City of Ramallah today has been cancelled. The step was taken by the organizing committee after Israel denied visa for four countries with whom it doesn’t have diplomatic relations.

These include Malaysia, Indonesia, Cuba and Bangladesh. Palestinian officials said that other guests, including the foreign ministers of Egypt and Zimbabwe, declined to attend in solidarity with those prevented from taking part. Israel, which controls access to the West Bank didn’t grant visa to the foreign ministers of Malaysia and Indonesia along with ambassadors from Cuba and Bangladesh on the grounds that the four countries do not recognize the Jewish state. 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said that Israel has cleared entry for representatives of countries which have diplomatic relations with Israel and not cleared those which do not.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee reacted sharply to the move. She said that Israel exploits its position as an occupying power to prevent Palestine from communication with the countries of the world and to isolate the Palestinian people and its institutions.

The meeting was convened to express solidarity of the NAM Movement with the Palestinian leadership ahead of the NAM Summit in Teheran by the end of this month.