Master key for peace

Justice and economic development for Palestine are the basis for stability in Middle East

China opened a major opportunity for peace in the Middle East when 14 Palestinian factions signed the Beijing Declaration for reconciliation and national unity on July 23, ending many years of division that weakened the Palestinian front and allowed Israel and its allies to further disregard the rights of the people in the occupied territories. Simultaneously, the Beijing Declaration provided an important window for the United States and Israel to redeem themselves by stopping the crimes they are committing against the Palestinian people in Gaza and reach a ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange.

In this context, one very important element of the Beijing Declaration is that Hamas would concede its government power in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority under the Palestine Liberation Organization. This would remove one of the major excuses of Israel and the US for pursuing this war, because the two consider Hamas a "terrorist organization" and its control of Gaza legitimizes the horrific military actions that have claimed the lives of more than 40,000 Palestinians. "The core outcome of the reconciliation dialogue is to specify that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the sole legitimate representative of all the Palestinian people", said Wang Yi, minister of foreign affairs and the host of the Palestinian reconciliation process.

He added that "the most significant highlight is the agreement to form an interim government of national reconciliation focusing on the post-conflict reconstruction of Gaza, and the strongest call is for establishing a truly independent Palestinian state in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions". China has strongly advocated for the Palestinian people's right to an independent and sovereign state as a first step to peace and stability in the whole region. Thus, the Beijing Declaration spurred a process of negotiations in which Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar backed a ceasefire and prisoner exchange.

It is a well-known and unfortunate fact that the international community cannot force Israel to take a positive course of action, and only the US government can. However, the Joe Biden administration has failed to get Israel to end the ongoing military operations in Gaza and move to the negotiation process. Instead, the US has amassed a massive naval force in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf to deter Iran and protect Israel. A dangerous regional war can easily develop out of this situation. The reckless actions of Israel and its backers are to blame for this situation.

While the US position seems to be tactical and pretentious, the position of China is more principled, long-term, and strategic. While China is among a vast majority of nations who consider establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital as the first step to peace in accordance with a two-state solution with Israel, it has added the very important element of wisdom that justice for the Palestinian people will not be achieved by retribution and revenge against Israel, but by building a future for the Palestinian people, starting with the immediate reconstruction of Gaza as the first step toward regional peace and stability through economic development.

Chinese diplomats have presented several proposals and policy papers for ending the conflict and establishing sustainable peace to the United Nations Security Council. Wang presented a position paper on Nov 29, 2023 presenting a five-step solution under international law that emphasized the necessity of organizing an international conference to discuss a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue. The Chinese proposals focus on tackling the root causes of the issue and its solution is anchored in the context of the three major initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping in recent years, namely the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative.

The Chinese representative to the UN, Ambassador Zhang Jun, made a very eloquent presentation on the symbiosis between economic development and peace and security during an open debate organized by the Chinese side on Nov 20, 2023 in the UNSC. He said that peace, development, and human rights are the three pillars of the United Nations, but that "among them, development holds the master key to solving all problems and constitutes the basis for promoting peace and protecting human rights". This correctly identified that many of the conflicts the UNSC deals with have their roots in economic backwardness and lack of development.

The Global Security Initiative advocates that prosperity and security are indivisible and that lasting peace cannot be achieved without development. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a paper on Feb 21, 2023, that defines in detail the Global Security Initiative. The paper states from the start that "the issue of security bears on the wellbeing of people of all countries, the lofty cause of world peace and development, and the future of humanity." The paper upholds world peace and security as the common pursuit of all countries.

China is not intending to reinvent the wheel of international relations. The hard-won UN Charter is the basic law of the global governance that China supports. This has been the traditional foreign policy of China since the 1950s when it introduced the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. However, with the complex crises facing the world today, it was necessary for China to redefine and elucidate some of these principles. Many powers are inventing new concepts such as "the rules-based order "which is an attempt to bend the UN Charter to fit their own interests and ambitions.

Chinese diplomacy is growing in clarity and impact in proportion to the growth of its global economic impact. Its achievement of the breakthrough in brokering the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March 2023 proved that fact and also that China is a trustworthy mediator. Therefore, China's proposals for ending the conflict in Palestine in particular, and West Asia in general, should be heeded by the international community. This region has witnessed a century of wars and conflicts since World War I.

However, turning back the clock of history is not possible, only looking forward to a better future for the Palestinians and for the people of this region is still possible. This must start with ending the killing immediately and preparing the ground for a sustainable Palestinian state, with a clearly defined reconstruction and economic development plan. The Chinese proposal for an international conference on this matter would be an appropriate launchpad.

The author is vice-chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden and a distinguished research fellow at the Guangdong Institute of International Strategies. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.