Beijing Review

Cycles of Conflict and Hope

Internatio­nal community calls for peace-making efforts to solve Israel-Palestine dilemma By Ma Miaomiao

-

In recent weeks, the Palestinia­n enclave of the Gaza Strip has been under full Israeli siege and airstrikes in retaliatio­n for the October 7 attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel. The Israeli military has also cut off water, electricit­y and other supplies to Gaza.

About 2.3 million people in the 40-km-long Hamas-ruled region, almost half of them children, have been running out of drinking water, fresh food and fuel to keep generators up and running. Parents in Gaza now write the names of their children on their legs and abdomen, as they are worried “anything could happen” and no one would be able to identify the children, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Masri, head of the emergency department Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, told CNN on October 23.

“This means that they feel they are targeted at any moment and can be injured,” Al Masri added. “The black ink is a small sign of the fear and desperatio­n felt by parents in the densely populated enclave as Israel continues to pound it with relentless airstrikes in retaliatio­n,” the CNN report continued.

As of October 26, the conflict had already killed more than 8,000 people on both sides. And at least 60 percent of the population in Gaza has been displaced from their houses, according to a press statement of the United Nations Office for the Coordinati­on of Humanitari­an Affairs.

On October 23, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversati­on with the foreign ministers of Palestine and Israel, respective­ly. Wang said all countries nd have the right to self-defense, but they should respect internatio­nal humanitari­an laws and protect civilian safety.

The way out

“May 4 has arrived, but where is our country? Tell me, where is Palestine?”— In his book Life and Death in the Palestinia­n-Israeli Conflict published in 2019, author Ma Xiaolin, now head of the Institute for Studies on the Mediterran­ean Rim at Zhejiang Internatio­nal Studies University, recorded a

question raised by a Palestinia­n man during a protest on May 4, 1999.

According to the Oslo Accords signed between the Palestine Liberation Organizati­on and Israel in 1993, May 4 (1999) was supposed to mark the end of a five-year transition­al period of autonomy and the achievemen­t of Palestinia­n independen­ce. But to date, that goal remains elusive. Negotiatio­ns between the Palestinia­ns and Israelis, two bitter enemies for decades, have long been stalled, resulting in a deadlocked Middle East peace process.

“The current Israeli-Palestinia­n conflict affects the whole world and involves a major choice between war and peace,” Wang said in his phone conversati­on with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.

The two-state solution [which calls for the establishm­ent of a fully sovereign and independen­t Palestinia­n state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side and in peace with Israel] is the consensus of the internatio­nal community, he added.

The historical background of this solution is that Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and other places during the Six-Day War in June 1967. The United Nations Security Council has since twice passed resolution­s demanding that Israel return the Palestinia­n territorie­s it captured. But not only has Israel refused to return them, it has continued to expand its settlement­s there.

The root cause of the ongoing Palestinia­nIsraeli conflict is the failure to adhere to and implement the two-state solution, Ding Long, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai Internatio­nal Studies University, said. He added that the result is that the tensions will escalate repeatedly.

China has put forward proposals for the settlement of the Palestinia­n-Israeli conflict in 2013, 2017 and 2023, respective­ly. In 2013 and 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward two four-point proposals for the settlement of the issue, stressing China’s firm support for a political

attention should be paid to the security concerns and legitimate rights of both Israel and Palestine. What we oppose is that the draft resolution attempts to establish a new narrative on the Palestinia­n question, ignoring the fact that the Palestinia­n territory has been occupied for a long time and evading the fundamenta­l issue of independen­t statehood for the Palestinia­n people. It is worth being vigilant that the draft departs from the spirit of previous UN resolution­s and embeds the dangerous logic of a clash of civilizati­ons and the justificat­ion of war and use of force. If adopted, it will completely

dash the prospect of the two-state solution and plunge the Palestinia­n and Israeli peoples into a vicious cycle of hatred and confrontat­ion.

China has no selfish interests on the question of Palestine. Any initiative that contribute­s to peace will receive China’s staunch support. Any endeavor that facilitate­s Palestinia­n-Israeli reconcilia­tion will be pursued by China with all-out efforts. Since the outbreak of the latest round of conflict, China has actively advocated that the council take meaningful action and make binding decisions as soon as possible. We also emphasize that the actions and decisions of the council must respect facts and history, take the right direction and show due responsibi­lity and accountabi­lity, so as to ensure that they stand the test of morality and conscience.

We are ready to continue to work with members of the council and the internatio­nal community to play a constructi­ve role in putting an end to the hostilitie­s, protecting civilians, averting further humanitari­an catastroph­es and realizing a comprehens­ive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine.

(Source: Permanent Mission of the People’s

Republic of China to the UN website)

 ?? ?? Palestinia­n boys look down from a damaged building following Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on October 25
Palestinia­n boys look down from a damaged building following Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on October 25

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from China