Israel’s rejection of two-state solution unacceptable, says China’s UN envoy
China’s top envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday said that Israel’s rejection of the two-state solution and denial of the Palestinians’ “right to statehood” are “unacceptable”.
The two-state solution is the “only feasible way” to achieve peace between Palestine and Israel and it is also a “strict requirement” for implementing the Security Council resolutions, said Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the UN.
“We are deeply concerned about the Israeli leader’s remarks last week, rejecting the two-state solution and denying Palestine’s right to statehood. These remarks are unacceptable,” he told a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, on Tuesday.
Any discussion on post-conflict arrangements in Gaza that deviates from the two-state solution is “tantamount to building a house on quicksand”, he said.
China calls for intensifying diplomatic efforts, convening an international peace conference as soon as possible, initiating a meaningful multilateral process and reviving the political prospects of the twostate solution, said Zhang.
“The establishment of an independent state of Palestine must be an irreversible process, and we support, as a first step in that process, Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations as soon as possible,” the ambassador said.
Zhang also called for the removal of all obstacles to expanding humanitarian assistance. “Not only did people in Gaza die from war bombings, but hunger and the accelerated spread of infectious diseases also claimed more lives, especially the lives of children,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he “will not compromise on full Israeli control” over Gaza and that “this is contrary to a Palestinian state”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday also said Israel’s rejection of a two-state solution is “unacceptable”.
“Last week’s clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable,” he said at the Security Council meeting.
Truce deal talks
It came as Israel and Hamas have moved closer to an agreement on a 30-day cease-fire in Gaza when Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners would be released, Reuters reported.
International efforts are underway to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas on a framework for cessation of hostilities, which would also allow an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Qatar said on Tuesday the country had “presented ideas to both sides, we are getting a constant stream of replies from both sides, and that in its own right is a cause for optimism”.
Meanwhile, in its biggest operation in a month, the Israeli military pressed ahead with encircling Khan Younis, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
As fighting raged, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported that Israeli forces on Tuesday had issued fresh evacuation orders for a section of Khan Younis housing an estimated half a million residents and displaced people.
Israeli forces killed more than 100 militants in western Khan Younis in 24 hours, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday evening.
On Monday, Israel’s military suffered its worst loss in over three months of conflict as 24 soldiers were killed in two incidents. Hamas claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that killed 21 of the soldiers.
“The price of the war is heavy and painful,” Hagari said on Tuesday.
Mourners filed into funerals for the killed ones on Tuesday, including some with no connection to the deceased.
Israela Oron, of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, said the mounting soldier deaths would prompt the public to “demand clear answers about the purpose and the goal of this operation in Gaza”.
Netanyahu said an investigation had been launched into the “disaster”.