PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The ministerial meetingof the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on Tuesday called on the NAM countries to offer economic and financial assistance to the Palestinian people on an urgent basis.

    The ministers of the NAM Committee on Palestine "expressed their deep concern at the intensifying hardships being faced by the Palestinians as a result of the financial and political isolation being imposed on the Palestinian Authority (PA) by some members of the international community," said the committee in a statement released here.

    They urged Israel, which is termed "the Occupying Power" in thestatement, to cease its withholding of tax revenues due to the Palestinian Authority, said the statement entitled "Declaration onPalestine".

    Ministers attending the committee meeting firmly reject the "collective punishment of the Palestinian people for the democraticelection of their representatives", said the four-page declarationissued at the end of the NAM Coordinating Bureau (NAM-CoB) Ministerial Meeting in the Malaysian administrative center of Putrajaya.

    The NAM Committee on Palestine on Sunday convened a meeting to review the "continuing grave situation in the Occupied PalestinianTerritory, including East Jerusalem," the declaration said.

    The committee comprises Algeria, Colombia, Cuba, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Palestine, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Meanwhile, the foreign ministers also affirmed their support for the PA under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas and emphasized the importance of maintaining and protecting the national institutions of the PA.

    About 90 members countries sent delegations, 74 of which at ministerial or deputy ministerial level, to attend the two-day NAM-CoB Ministerial Meeting.

    Malaysia currently chairs the 116-member movement, which was established 45 years ago. Enditem