Chinese President Jiang Zemin Thursday expressed deep concern over the ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians, urging the two sides to act immediately to prevent the situation from further escalating.

In separate messages sent to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Thursday, Jiang said that as the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks are in a critical stage, China urges all related parties to take measures immediately to prevent the situation from deteriorating, and stop all words and deeds not conducive to the talks.

Jiang hoped that Israel and Palestine would resume peace talks as soon as possible and take flexible and pragmatic positions to seek a final settlement of the Palestinian issue on the basis of relevant U.N. resolutions.

China has all along maintained that differences should be dealt with through negotiations and dialogue, Jiang said, adding that violence could only fuel hatred between the two sides.

"Peace is a long-cherished common aspiration of the peoples in the region and is in the interests of Palestine, Israel and all other countries in the region," he stressed.

China supports the peace-making efforts of the international community and is willing to work with the international community to push forward the Mideast peace process, he added.

During the past two weeks, bloody clashes between the Israeli forces and the Palestinian demonstrators have claimed nearly 100 lives, mostly Palestinians, and injured more than 2,000 others.

The clashes were triggered by the provocative visit by right-wing Israeli opposition Likud party leader Ariel Sharon to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site for world Muslims, in East Jerusalem on September 28.

A flurry of international mediation is under way in the Middle East to try to defuse the tension and bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

(People’s Daily 10/12/2000)