Moving toward each other key to Middle East issue: Chinese envoy

Only when Palestinians and Israel move toward each other and create an atmosphere for peace talks could their conflict end, a Chinese diplomat told Xinhua in an interview.

Wu Sike, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East, made the remarks as the two sides resumed peace talks Monday night over an Iftar dinner in Washington. The talks will set the formula for formal final status negotiations expected to last at least nine months.

China welcomed the resumption of talks, Wu said. But against the backdrop of the turbulent Middle East, the Palestinian issue remained the key to the situation in the whole region.

"The unsettled Palestinian-Israeli problem will exert negative effects on other issues in the Middle East," Wu said.

"The Washington peace talks were really hard won, but the two sides have their own political calculations," he said.

Wu said political upheavals in neighboring Arab countries such as Egypt and Syria had impelled Israel to reassess its security environment.

And stable relations with the Palestinians would enable Israel to better cope with the pressure arising from neighboring turmoil, he said.

From the perspective of the Palestinians, long-stalled peace talks would not lead to the final solution to the Palestinian-Israeli issue, Wu said.

On the one hand, the Palestinians needed to make more effort as traditional mediating powers in the region such as Egypt were struggling to deal with their own domestic affairs, Wu said.

On the other, the Palestinians, who looked to financial assistance from the international community and the United States in particular, needed to make positive responses to the U.S. efforts to precipitate the peace talks.

"Though the two sides are faced with enormous challenges, they need to forge on and move toward each other," he said.

The envoy said China had been pushing for an all-round, fair solution to the Palestinian issue.

Both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China in May, part of China's widely lauded efforts to boost the Mideast peace process and revive talks.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's four-point proposal to solve the issue, which was unveiled during his meeting with Abbas, fully embodied the importance placed by the new Chinese leadership on the peace process, Wu said.

"China has been working to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians," he said. "Only when the two sides sit at the same negotiating table and come into contact will they have a chance to build up mutual trust and eventually touch upon core issues."

What results the talks yielded and how they would proceed from the long-term interests of their nations and made decisions that would be understood and accepted in their respective countries would be a test for politicians of both sides, Wu said.

The envoy voiced hope that politicians of both sides would demonstrate foresight, sagacity and great determination and bring lasting peace to the two peoples.

"It is not only in the interests of the Palestinians and Israelis, but beneficial for the whole regions," Wu said.