Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent congratulations to a UN meeting held on Tuesday to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.
In his message, Xi said that the Palestinian issue lies at the heart of the Middle East conflict, affecting international fairness, justice and regional stability, Xinhua said.
He added that under the current circumstances, the international community should build greater consensus and take more proactive steps to ensure a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and prevent a resurgence of conflict, per Xinhua.
Noting that post-conflict governance and reconstruction in Gaza should be carried out under the principle of "Palestinians governing Palestine," with full respect for the will of the Palestinian people and due regard for the legitimate concerns of countries in the region, Xi stressed the urgency of swiftly improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people. Most importantly, he said, efforts should be anchored in the pursuit of a two-state solution to promote an early political settlement of the Palestinian issue, according to Xinhua.
Xi emphasized that the Palestinian issue is also a test of the effectiveness of the global governance system. He called on the international community to confront the root causes of the Palestinian issue, shoulder responsibility, take strong actions, correct historical injustices, and uphold fairness and justice, Xinhua said.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China firmly supports the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights, Xi said, adding that China will continue to work with the international community to make unremitting efforts for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue at an early date, according to Xinhua.
The Chinese leader's congratulatory message demonstrates China's firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people and its unwavering efforts to pursue fair, just and lasting solutions to ensure the regional peace and stability, some Chinese experts said.
"It reflects China's principled position on the Palestinian question, namely upholding the two-State solution and the principle of Palestinian self-governance with the goal of promoting a proper resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and achieving sustainable security," Sun Degang, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Pursuant to the UN General Assembly's resolution on Palestine question of December 2, 1977, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed annually on or around November 29, solemnly commemorating the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution on November 29, 1947, which provided for the partition of Palestine into two States, according to the UN website.
Persisting conflict
In the conflict that has lasted more than two years, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza. The enclave faces its most severe economic collapse in history, and even amid a fragile ceasefire, children continue to die, read a UN statement marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
This year's commemoration comes at a time when there are reports of multiple transgressions of the fragile Gaza truce as the Israel-Hamas conflict persists.
Five Palestinians were killed in Rafah and a sixth in southern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip by Israeli fire on Tuesday, while Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades handed over the body of an Israeli prisoner to Red Cross teams in central Gaza, the Palestine News Network reported on Wednesday.
Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel signed a truce on October 9, halting two years of devastating warfare, but the agreement left the most intractable disputes for further talks, freezing the conflict without resolving it, per Reuters.
During a public meeting at the UN Security Council on the Israel-Palestine issue on Monday local time, China's Permanent Representative to the UN Fu Cong called on all parties, especially Israel, to fully comply with the requirements of the ceasefire agreement and work toward a truly comprehensive and lasting ceasefire.
We welcome the agreement reached on the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire. However, peace between Palestine and Israel is still far from being achieved, and the suffering of civilians continues. We call on the international community to work harder with the greatest sense of urgency and unwavering political will toward restoring peace in the region, Fu said.
We note with concern that violent clashes persist despite the ceasefire. Israel has reportedly committed over 400 violations of the agreement, resulting in more than 300 civilian deaths in Gaza, Fu said.
"After more than two years of the latest round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the UN has just adopted a resolution based on the 20-point proposal put forward for Gaza by the US. Against this backdrop, the Chinese leader's message placed particular emphasis on achieving a ceasefire and ending the fighting," said Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University.
The message also highlighted the prevention of a resurgence of hostilities, addressing the humanitarian crisis and highlighting the urgency of Gaza's reconstruction, all of which carry strong and immediate relevance to the current situation, Liu told the Global Times on Wednesday.
At the UN commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, and on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas, Riyad Mansour, Permanent observer of Palestine to the UN, said on Tuesday that settlement practices, settler violence, home demolitions and confiscation, constant military raids on Palestinian cities, the continued withholding of Palestinian funds, strangling the Palestinian economy, and undermining Palestinian institutions - all these illegal unilateral measures destroy prospects for peace, according to a post published on the official account of State of Palestine to the UN.
The Palestinian representative also called on the UN and its member states to assume their responsibilities to stop these practices, ensuring respect for international law and providing protection for the Palestinian people.
After the US proposed the 20-point peace plan, the Gaza crisis temporarily eased, but the recent resurgence of clashes shows that only by establishing an independent Palestinian state, based on the principles of the two-state solution and Palestinian self-governance, can a permanent solution be achieved, Sun noted.
"If the Gaza crisis continues to deteriorate, renewed conflict is highly likely, and both Palestinians and Israelis will once again suffer," he warned.
Both Chinese experts pointed out that the root cause of the fragility of ceasefires between the two sides is that the issue of Palestinian statehood has yet to be resolved.
Whether it is the first-phase ceasefire agreement or the recent UN Security Council resolution, neither has provided a systematic solution to key issues, such as arrangements concerning Hamas and the establishment of an international monitoring mechanism, Liu noted. "Overall, the plans lack coherence and comprehensiveness," he said.
Source: Global Times:
Company: Global Times
Contact Person: Anna Li
Email: editor@globaltimes.com.cn
Website: https://globaltimes.cn
City: Beijing
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