The Palestinian people face a bleak future in their struggle for a state following the death of their leader Yasser Arafat, said former Malaysian premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"The future is not so bright. They have to continue with their struggle until they achieve their objective," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

"The Western world is not so sympathetic, and the Islamic world is disunited. It is therefore a difficult matter to resolve."

Mahathir, who championed the Palestinian cause during his 22 years in power before retiring in October last year, said his pessimism was also fueled by the re-election of US President George W Bush.

He said the West has never been fair to Arafat and the Palestinian struggle and accused Western powers of not being sincere when they said they wanted the conflict resolved.

Mahathir, a strident critic of Bush, reacted to his re-election earlier this month by remarking that Muslims would be "tortured" during the second four-year term.