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Beijing: China’s foreign minister has reached out to his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts to say his country is ready to help facilitate peace talks between the two sides, in its latest effort at mediation in the region.
In separate phone calls to the two officials, Qin Gang expressed China’s concern over intensifying tensions between Israel and Palestinians and its support for a resumption of peace talks, the Foreign Ministry said in statements.
China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang.Credit: Getty
Last month, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a deal in China to restore diplomatic ties that were cut off in 2016. It was a dramatic moment of diplomacy for China that Beijing touted as evidence of its ability to be a diplomatic player in the Middle East.
A statement about the call said Qin stressed to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen that Saudi Arabia and Iran had set a good example of overcoming differences through dialogue.
He told Cohen that Beijing encouraged Israel and the Palestinians to show political courage and take steps to resume peace talks. “China is willing to provide convenience for this,” he was quoted as saying.
Israeli police escort Jewish visitors marking Passover to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem.Credit: AP
Israel and the Palestinians have not held substantive peace talks on ending the century-long conflict in over a decade. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is committed to expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, a goal that most of the international community considers illegal and an obstacle to peace. Several of his key allies are staunchly opposed to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Cohen expressed his country’s commitment to reducing tensions, but said the problem appeared to be difficult to resolve in the short term, the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Qin and Cohen discussed “the importance of maintaining quiet at the Temple Mount, particularly in the final days of Ramadan,” the Muslim holy month, but made no mention of peace talks with the Palestinians.
It said that Cohen conveyed “the threat that we see in Iran’s nuclear program” and called on China to help prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Qin also told Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki that China was willing to play an active role in the resumption of talks, a second statement said.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed Qin’s outreach to the two officials. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” he said.
This month, violence in Israel and the West Bank has increased, touched off by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the compound home to the al-Aqsa mosque. The Israeli military struck sites linked to the Palestinian group Hamas in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip after militants in the two territories fired rocket salvos at Israel. The mosque sits on a contested hilltop revered as the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism.
China has published a 12-point plan it says will help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
AP
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