By Wang Jiangang
BEIJING, Dec. 20 -- On December 19, China's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Zhang Jun stressed at the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question that a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip remains the overriding prerequisite.
According to Zhang Jun, only a cease-fire can avoid increasing casualties among civilians including the hostages, the regional conflict going out of control, and the prospect of a political settlement eradicated. There have been repeated overwhelming appeals from the international community calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Israel, however, continues its bombardments, rendering recurrently schools, hospitals, refugee camps, and other places as targets of its military operations. China urges Israel to immediately change course, stop indiscriminate military attacks, and cease its collective punishment of the people in Gaza.
Zhang noted that it is necessary to make every effort to prevent the situation in the West Bank from going out of control. While the eyes of the international community are focused on Gaza, violence between Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank becomes increasingly intensified. Searches, arrests, and assaults against Palestinians are taking place every day, resulting in a large number of Palestinian casualties. China urges Israel, as the occupying power, to fulfill its obligations under international law, stop any activities in the settlements, effectively restrain violence by the settlers, and terminate the situation of impunity.
Zhang pointed out that more than two million innocent people in the Gaza Strip have suffered unprecedented humanitarian disaster since the breakout of another round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Under the circumstances, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on behalf of the Arab States, proposed a new Security Council draft resolution, aiming at eliminating the bottleneck of humanitarian access and mitigating the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip. China urges relevant members to uphold a constructive attitude and support the Security Council in taking immediate and substantive actions to save lives. The UAE draft resolution is an emergent measure to address the present urgent humanitarian disaster in Gaza. In the face of the protracted conflict in the Gaza Strip and the ever escalating tension in the West Bank, the Security Council must further play its due role and take action for an early ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, the restoration of regional peace, and the preservation of fairness and justice.
Zhang said that the two-state solution is the only way to solve the Palestinian-Israeli issue and is the broad consensus of the international community as well. China calls for greater international and regional diplomatic efforts to reaffirm the commitment to the two-state solution, revitalize the political prospects of the solution, and reinitiate direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel. China advocates an international peace conference of a larger scale, wider scope, and more tangible results, and the formulation of a timetable and roadmap to truly implement the two-state solution.
