Chinese president's Mideast visit backs Palestinian cause

RAMALLAH -- A recent visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Middle East is so important for the Palestinian cause and will boost the historical ties between the Arab nations and China, Palestinian analysts and observers have agreed.

In his speech at the Arab League in Cairo, President Xi made clear his country's stance towards finding a fair solution to the Palestinian cause, the analysts said.

"The Palestinian cause is a basic issue for peace in the Middle East. If the international community wants calm and an end to the conflict, it must help resume the peace talks, implement peace agreements and be committed to achieving fairness and justice," Xi said in Cairo.

He urged the international community to take more powerful measures to reactivate the stalled peace talks and support the process of the economic reconstruction that would enable the Palestinians to see a light of hope, stressing that his country backs the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Nabil Abu Rdineh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, praised President Xi's remarks, saying that "it is another historic position of China that backs the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people."

Abu Rdineh told Xinhua that China has been backing the Palestinian cause at all levels.

"China backs the Palestinian people politically and financially, and always stands on the side of the Palestinian legitimate rights in all international bodies and agencies," he said, adding that the Palestinian ties with China have always been strong, firm and clear.

Ahmed Awad, a political science professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank, told Xinhua that China supports the legitimate rights and struggle of the Palestinian people.

He went on saying that China was one of the first great countries recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

It also was the first country that allowed the opening of a PLO office on its lands, he added.

"The Palestinians and the Arabs call for the resumption of peace talks within the framework of an international peace conference and not through useless bilateral negotiations," Hani al-Masri, director of Ramallah-based Badil Center for Studies, told Xinhua, referring to 20 years of bilateral talks which achieved no notable progress.

He also said so far there is no opportunity for achieving peace in the region, "because Israel is unready for peace. It doesn't want a peaceful settlement but to keep dictating the Palestinians and the Arabs."