A Chinese envoy said yesterday that the parties concerned should launch new approaches to resume the Middle East peace process.

 

"My contacts with Arab officials have made me aware of a deep pessimism about the ongoing Lebanon-Israel and Palestine-Israel conflicts. Some officials believe the peace process is dead. I think we must generate new ideas and approaches so that the process can be resumed," Sun Bigan, China's special envoy on Middle East issues, said in Beijing at a press briefing.

 

The envoy stressed that the trend in favor of peace in the Middle East region will not be overturned by anyone's will no matter what difficulties or temporary failures may arise.

 

"History has proved that the Middle East issue can never be settled by force or war," Sun said.

 

Sun visited Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia from August 6-16. His scheduled trip to Lebanon had to be cancelled because access to the country's capital city Beirut was impossible.

 

"I hope to be able to visit Lebanon at an early date and contribute to the country's reconstruction and recovery of stability," Sun said.

 

According to Sun, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 is only the first step in the cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel, and the most important issue in the current situation is how to substantially and comprehensively implement the resolution.

 

"I think the resolution still contains some ambiguities and we still need to make massive efforts to implement it. Implementing the resolution might be even more difficult than passing it," Sun predicted.

 

China hopes the parties concerned will adopt a global perspective and exercise restraint to achieve substantial implementation of the resolution, Sun noted.

 

The envoy urged that adequate attention be paid to the Palestine-Israel issue at a time when the international community is focused on the Lebanon-Israel conflict.

 

The Palestine-Israel issue is the core issue in the Middle East region, and still pivotal to regional peace, Sun explained.

 

Israel launched a massive assault on July 12 after Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in cross-border attacks and has since carried out a series of air raids on Lebanese targets.

 

The 34-day fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerillas killed nearly 1,300 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 people in Israel, mostly soldiers.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2006)