Britain’s foreign policy chief stressed human rights over military might Tuesday, calling on the West to understand Muslims who fear the United States and urging Myanmar’s military rulers to show restraint in the face of massive street demonstrations.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband, addressing a conference of his governing Labour party for the first time since taking office, said Britain must work with all of Iraq’s neighbors to reconcile divided communities and called for quick progress to achieve a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Al-Qaida is exploiting the suffering of the Palestinians to justify their violence, he warned his party.

“While we’ve won the wars, it’s been harder to win the peace,” said Miliband, who at 42 is the youngest holder of his office for decades. “The lesson is that while there are military victories, there is never a military solution.”

With his emphasis on diplomacy after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Miliband is also aiming to craft a modern image for his often stuffy department _ recruiting actress Angelina Jolie to launch a new Web site which will include a personal blog and entries written by ambassadors.

He told delegates he had met intelligent young Muslims in Pakistan who believed the West is “seeking not to empower them, but to dominate them.”

The United States and Europe were also now less popular around the world than a decade ago, following conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

“So we have to stop and think. The lesson is, it’s not good enough to have good intentions,” Miliband told the conference.

Negotiations with Iraq’s neighbors to reconcile the Sunni and Shiite populations would “prevent that conflict first fragmenting the country and then spreading like a contagion across the Middle East,” Miliband said.

He did not specify whether Iran should be included in the peace talks.

“The Iraq war was divisive in our party and in our country,” he said. “But whatever the rights and wrongs, and there have been both, we’ve got to focus on the future.”

Since taking his post in July, Miliband has promoted delicate diplomacy, carefully weighing his message to Iran and praising Hamas over the release of a British reporter kidnapped in Gaza.

He strongly rejected French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s claim that the world must “prepare for the worst” over efforts to halt Tehran’s nuclear program.

Miliband called for restraint in Myanmar, also known as Burma, during recent protests that have seen tens of thousands of people led by Buddhist monks take to the streets.

He delighted delegates by saying opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi should lead the country.

“I for one thought it was brilliant to see Aung San Suu Kyi alive and well outside her house last week,” he said. “I think it will be a hundred times better when she takes her rightful place as the elected leader of a free and democratic Burma.”

Officials said Miliband will meet Jolie, a United Nations human rights ambassador, while in New York for talks Wednesday on Thursday. He will broadcast their meeting on a revamped department Web site.

Miliband was Britain’s first blogging Cabinet minister in his previous role as environment chief and will launch his new Foreign Office blog Wednesday.