Palestinians call on China to support Abbas's peace plan
Abbas proposed his peace plan during a speech he delivered at the Security Council on February 20, 2018.
By Tovah Lazaroff, Khaled Abu Toameh
The Palestinian Authority called on China – in its capacity as a
permanent member of the UN Security Council – to play an active role in
the Middle East peace process, during a meeting in Ramallah on Tuesday
between visiting Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, PA Prime Minister
Rami Hamdallah and senior PLO and Fatah officials.
During the meeting, Hamdallah also called on China to support PA
President Mahmoud Abbas’s peace initiative, which calls for holding an
international conference on peace in the Middle East with wide
international participation.This would include both the Palestinian and
Israeli sides, as well as the active regional and international parties.
Abbas proposed his peace plan during a speech he delivered at the UN Security Council in February.
Hamdallah also urged China to exert pressure on Israel to “halt its violations and honor international laws and resolutions.”
He told the Chinese vice president that Israeli measures, including
settlement construction, were aimed at “destroying the peace process and
the two-state solution.”
The PA prime minister praised China for its continued support for the
Palestinians in international forums and its economic aid to the
Palestinians. He pointed out that China was training PA government
employees and security personnel, providing financial aid to the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and
helping establish industrial zones in the West Bank.The PA’s official
WAFA news agency quoted Wang as telling the Palestinian officials that
China stands with the Palestinian people and their just cause and backs a
two-state solution to the conflict. Wang, according to the agency, also
stressed that the Palestinian cause was the core issue of the Middle
East and the world.
Earlier in the day, Wang visited the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem, and then traveled to Ramallah, where he placed a wreath on
the grave of Yasser Arafat.
Late Tuesday afternoon Wang met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
“The relations between China and Israel are excellent, based on mutual
respect, a shared past and a promising future,” Rivlin said. He recalled
the strong ties between the Chinese and Jewish peoples, nothing that
there had been a Jewish community in China as early at the 10th century
CE.
Wang thanked Rivlin by saying, “The relations between the two countries
are based on a long shared history, as you mentioned, and also on
partnership in innovation. Israel does not have large natural resources,
but the miracle of development rests on the tremendous human capital of
this nation. Human beings are the most precious asset.”
China holds one of five permanent seats on the 15-member UN Security
Council and therefore has veto power for any resolution. It first
recognized Palestine as a state in 1988 and maintains a embassy in
Ramallah.
It is a strong supporter of a two-state resolution to the conflict along
pre- 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian
state. In December 2016, China was one of 14 UNSC countries to support
resolution 2334 condemning Israeli “occupation” of the Western Wall.
China only established ties with Israel in 1992, but bilateral relations
between the two countries, including boosting economic ties, is the
primary focus of the vice president’s visit.
China is Israel’s third largest trading partner, and Wang is its highest ranking diplomat to visit Israel in 18 years.
On Wednesday, Wang will join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
participate in the Fourth China-Israel Joint Committee on Innovation
Cooperation meeting at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, where both leaders
are expected to jointly issue public statements.
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