Malaysia's foreign minister on Thursday urged Palestinian factions to set aside their rivalry, warning that a civil war would destroy their common goal of an independent state. «It is important for the Palestinians at present to demonstrate a sense of unity and cohesiveness,» Syed Hamid Albar told reporters after meeting with members of a U.N. committee on Palestine. «Otherwise this is a weak point and their dream of seeing the birth of their state will not be achieved,» he said. «External parties will take advantage of it if among themselves they are in a state of open conflict to the extent that it ends up in civil war.» The six committee members who met Syed Hamid include representatives of Cuba, Senegal and Afghanistan. They are in Malaysia to participate in an NGO conference on Friday to discuss the Palestinian problem and the conflict between the Hamas and Fatah factions, the Associated Press reported. Syed Hamid expressed the hope that the U.N. would take a more central role in reviving the stalled peace process between the Palestinians and Israel instead of relying on the role of the quartet.
