A Chinese envoy called on the international community to take effective measures to bring the settlement of the Palestinian issue back to the right track.
Zhang Jun, China´s permanent representative to the United Nations, said the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is unsustainable.
The international community must go beyond the micromanagement of the crisis, confront the root causes directly, and take effective measures to promote the return of an early settlement of the Palestinian issue to the right track.
He explained to the Security Council that over the past month, the volatile situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has been on the nerves of the entire world. The escalation in Gaza resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and extensive damage to infrastructure, pushing the situation once again to the brink of all-out war and plunging Gazans into a state of fear and extreme distress.
He stressed the need to strengthen the effective commitment to the cease-fire by all parties and the exercise of self-restraint. Diplomatic efforts must continue on all fronts.
Zhang called on the international community to encourage Palestine and Israel to seek common security.
He said that Israel and Palestine are neighbors and will remain neighbors, and their security is interconnected and indivisible. He explained that the pursuit of absolute security, taking unilateral measures and building the security of one party at the expense of the insecurity of the other, will only exacerbate mistrust, increase tensions, and plunge the two parties into an endless cycle of violence.
The international community should attach equal importance to the security concerns of Palestine and Israel, and encourage the two sides to find the greatest common denominator through dialogue and cooperation to achieve common security. At the same time, the occupying power must effectively fulfill its obligations under international law to protect civilians in the occupied territories.
He said that the Palestinian cause has existed for more than 70 years. Generations of Palestine refugees have lost their homes and experienced displacement.
Countless Palestinian children have been denied hope and a future. What is lacking in the settlement of the Palestinian issue is not grand plans or loud slogans, but the courage to stand up for justice and take action to fulfill commitments.
The international community is watching whether the United Nations and the UN Security Council are willing to assume their responsibilities and determined to act, which is something that history also records. It is necessary to mobilize a sense of urgency, take substantive steps to advance the two-state solution, and support the Palestinian people in restoring and exercising their inalienable rights, in order to fundamentally achieve peaceful coexistence for Palestine, Israel and their peoples and establish lasting peace in the Middle East.
China calls for measures to promote settlement of Palestinian issue
