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Israel, Palestine should resolve conflicts through negotiations on equal footing: Chinese envoy

January 22, 2020

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Tuesday that the international community should encourage Israel and Palestine to resolve conflicts through negotiations on equal footing.

"The international community, especially parties with significant influence in the Middle East, should make joint efforts and on the basis of the 'Arab Peace Initiative,' the 'land for peace' principle and the relevant Security Council resolutions, encourage Israel and Palestine to resolve conflicts through negotiations on equal footing," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council quarterly open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

The Security Council Resolution 2334 clearly states that settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is in violation of international law, said the ambassador.

[caption id="attachment_43767" align="alignnone" width="570"] A Palestinian protester burns tires during clashes with Israeli soldiers after a protest against the expanding of Jewish settlements in Kufr Qadoom village near the West Bank city of Nablus, Jan. 17, 2020. (Photo by Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua)[/caption]

"The relevant parties should earnestly implement Resolution 2334, immediately cease all settlement activities in occupied territory, stop the demolition of Palestinian houses and destruction of their property, and prevent violence against civilians," the envoy added.

"We should continue to promote dialogue, negotiation and political consultation. The Palestinian issue can only be resolved politically. Countering violence with violence or the threat of force will lead to nowhere," he said.

"The occupied Palestinian territory is in a grave humanitarian crisis, and the Middle East peace process is off the right track," said Zhang, noting that China is deeply worried about all this.

"Without a just and reasonable solution to the Palestinian question, there will be no lasting peace and security in the Middle East," he said.

"We should continue to adhere to the overall goal of a two-state solution. The two-state solution is the only correct way to solve the Palestinian-Israeli issue. Independent statehood is an inevitable national right of the Palestinian people, a right that cannot be traded away," the envoy noted.  ■

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