China proposes 4-point plan for ‘Palestine issue’
7 May 2013 1:19 PM GMT
Playing host to both Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the same time, China on Monday made a four-point proposal for the settlement of the vexed Palestinian issue.
Welcoming Abbas with state honours, President Xi Jinping stressed that China firmly supports the just cause of the Palestinian people. Abbas is the the first head of state from the Middle East region to visit China after Xi assumed the Chinese presidency in March.
Netanyahu arrived in Shanghai on Monday and will be visiting Beijing for talks with the Chinese leadership, state-run CCTV reported. In his meeting with Abbas, Xi said the Palestine issue is the core of the Middle East issue.
‘The issue, already lasting more than half a century, has brought deep suffering to the Palestinian people and remains an important reason of extended turbulence in the Middle East region,’ official media in China quoted him as saying.
So long as the legitimate national rights and interests of the Palestinian people can not be restored, peace between Palestine and Israel would not be realised, ‘let alone peace and stability in the region,’ he said.
He also stressed that the Palestinian issue ‘should not be neglected at anytime and must be put in an important and noteworthy position’ and proposed a four-point proposal to resolve it.
The proposals included an independent Palestinian state coexisting peacefully with Israel enjoying full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital which is ‘an inalienable right of the Palestinian people and the key to the settlement of the Palestinian question’.
At the same time, Israel’s right to exist and its legitimate security concerns should also be fully respected, the proposals said adding negotiation is the only way to peace between Palestine and Israel.
‘The immediate priority is to take credible steps to stop settlement activities,’ he added.
Welcoming Abbas with state honours, President Xi Jinping stressed that China firmly supports the just cause of the Palestinian people. Abbas is the the first head of state from the Middle East region to visit China after Xi assumed the Chinese presidency in March.
Netanyahu arrived in Shanghai on Monday and will be visiting Beijing for talks with the Chinese leadership, state-run CCTV reported. In his meeting with Abbas, Xi said the Palestine issue is the core of the Middle East issue.
‘The issue, already lasting more than half a century, has brought deep suffering to the Palestinian people and remains an important reason of extended turbulence in the Middle East region,’ official media in China quoted him as saying.
So long as the legitimate national rights and interests of the Palestinian people can not be restored, peace between Palestine and Israel would not be realised, ‘let alone peace and stability in the region,’ he said.
He also stressed that the Palestinian issue ‘should not be neglected at anytime and must be put in an important and noteworthy position’ and proposed a four-point proposal to resolve it.
The proposals included an independent Palestinian state coexisting peacefully with Israel enjoying full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital which is ‘an inalienable right of the Palestinian people and the key to the settlement of the Palestinian question’.
At the same time, Israel’s right to exist and its legitimate security concerns should also be fully respected, the proposals said adding negotiation is the only way to peace between Palestine and Israel.
‘The immediate priority is to take credible steps to stop settlement activities,’ he added.
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