Force ‘not way’ to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict: China

BEIJING: China believes “force is not a way to resolve” the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and is once again calling for a ceasefire, its envoy for the Middle East pleaded in Egypt, the foreign ministry said Sunday.

Egypt on Saturday hosted a “summit for peace” where UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for swift “action to end this godawful nightmare” after two weeks of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Beijing’s envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, met Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit on the sidelines of the summit.


The Chinese diplomat called for an "immediate ceasefire and an end to the fighting as quickly as possible", his ministry said in a statement. “China believes that force is not a way to resolve the problem and that responding to violence with violence will only lead to a vicious circle of revenge,” Zhai said according to the statement, which mentioned neither Israel nor Hamas.