Senior Chinese diplomat calls for preventing Palestinian-Israeli conflict from further escalation

BEIJING -- On the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it is imperative to prevent the situation from escalating further and causing even more serious humanitarian hardship, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday.

The current Palestinian-Israeli conflict affects the whole world and involves a major choice between war and peace, Wang, also member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said in a phone conversation with Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.

Cohen introduced Israel's position and security concerns on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

China is deeply concerned about the continued escalation of the conflict and the worsening situation, and deeply saddened by the large number of civilian casualties caused by the conflict, Wang said.

China condemns all acts that harm civilians and oppose any violation of the international law, said Wang.

All countries have the right to self-defence, but they should respect the international humanitarian law and protect the safety of civilians, he added.

Wang stressed that the painful lesson of the repeated cycle of Palestinian-Israeli conflict fully demonstrates: only adhering to the concept of common security can help achieve sustainable security, and only adhering to the direction of political settlement can facilitate the thorough resolution of Israel's legitimate security concerns.

The two-state solution is the consensus of the international community, Wang said.

It is hoped that the two sides can consider the current situation as well as the long-term interests of peace and security shared by future generations, return to the right track of the two-state solution as soon as possible, resume peace talks and realize the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel and the harmonious coexistence of the Arab and Jewish nations, he said.

Wang said China does not pursue any selfish interests on the Palestinian issue and sincerely hopes that the issue can be comprehensively and fairly resolved on the basis of the two-state solution, so that the legitimate security concerns of all parties can be truly and thoroughly addressed.

China will firmly support anything that is conducive to peace and will do its best as long as it is conducive to the reconciliation between Palestine and Israel, he said.

Wang also said he hopes that the Israeli side would take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions in Israel.