China’s UN ambassador Liu Jieyi has urged the international community to support President Xi Jinping’s new four-point proposal to establish a fully independent Palestinian state and to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Jieyi said that Xi’s proposal is based on four proposals and that China’s diplomatic efforts will focus on a negotiated solution at a news conference on Monday. China’s attempt to increase their influence in the Middle East with the proposal and the meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing last month goes against some of their earlier overtures where they were trying to avoid being dragged into the quagmire of war there.
Xi outlined the plan and not surprisingly the Chinese are courting the Palestinians who are the foe of the US’ biggest ally in the region Israel. As the Chinese are seeking to counter the US at every turn.
The four points are:
— Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state;
— Upholding “the concept of common, comprehensive, co-operative and sustainable security,” immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks;
— Coordinating international efforts to put forward “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date”;
— Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel.
Curiously absent from Xi’s proposal is the very sticking point that exists in every peace proposal between the two countries… Israel’s right to exist. Until the Palestinians and the rest of the neighbors who support them are willing to call for Israel’s right to exist as a nation, the hope for any lasting peace accord is slim.
While Abbas will say all of the right things for Xi, what will Tehran say to Israel’s right to exist? Don’t expect that to be forthcoming.
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Photo courtesy UN