RAMALLAH, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — China can be a honest broker in pushing forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in light of its fair stance on the issue, a senior Palestinian official told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Tayeb Abdul Rahim, secretary-general of Palestinian Presidency and an aide to President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians are pleased that China has shown great interest in pushing forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process stalled since 2014.
Through cooperation with the international community, China, as a great power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, can help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the two-state solution, Rahim said.
He was commenting on the four-point proposal on resolving the Palestinian issue that was put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing in July.
The proposal reiterated China’s firm support for political settlement of the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution, and for the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
It also highlighted the importance of enhancing international coordination to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine, while calling for supporting Palestine’s economic development within the framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
China also offered to host a symposium on the Israeli-Palestinian peace later this year and launch a tripartite dialogue mechanism with Palestine and Israel, in order to create necessary conditions for resuming the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and increase their mutual trust.
Rahim said that if the international community and the influential parties like China, Russia and the European Union are all united in their efforts in pushing forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, “they would have greater influence to end the circle of talks for the sake of talks.”
He noted that China has good ties with both sides of the conflict, the Palestinians and the Israelis, and its policy is largely accepted by the Palestinians and the peace forces in Israel.
“China always believes that the Palestinian issue is the root cause of the Middle East conflict and resolving it would lead to the resolution of all problems in the region,” Rahim said, adding that China can play a pivotal role with its vision of resolving the problems through constructive talks.
The senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians welcome China’s initiative to host a peace symposium to be attended by Israeli and Palestinian peace activists within this year.
“This initiative is accepted and welcomed as it represents support for the international efforts to push forward the peace talks that will lead to implementation of the two-state solution,” Rahim said.
A just peace in the Middle East needs to be achieved to confront the rise in terrorism, because terrorists often use the subject of Israeli occupation to justify their crimes, Rahim pointed out.
But in the past 20 years, there have been just talks for the sake of talks between Israel and the Palestinians, without achieving major results. The only benefit was Israel’s expansion of settlement, which damages the two-state solution, he said.
Rahim believed that China’s moves will also motivate other countries to revitalize their efforts to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Rahim added.
“China can be a honest broker for its political and economic status… because it has no selfish motivation and only wants to establish stability in the region,” he said.
