Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday said the Palestine issue is the key to the divide bridging between the West and the Muslim world.

Both the West and the Muslim world should give the greatest priority to the solution of the protracted conflict in Palestine, Badawi said in a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

The prime minister made the remarks when posing the question of what could be done to moderate the tension and close the divide between the two sides, Malaysian national news agency Bernama reported.

Palestine remains the "single most powerful factor" dividing them, and much of the roots of the conflict and instability in the Middle East, including international terrorism, would disappear if the issue was resolved justly and equitably, Badawi said in his lunch-time speech entitled "The West and the Muslim World: Defusing the Defining Tension of our Times."

Badawi argued that hostilities between some countries in the West and Iran and Syria should also decline once the Palestinian issue was resolved and the situation in Iraq returned to normal.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian leader rejected the view that the tension between the West and the Muslim world was due to a "clash of civilizations."

Badawi arrived in London Last Sunday for a three-day visit, after which he will fly for Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum.

Source: Xinhua