The international community needs to play a greater role in bringing an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Wang Shijie, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East, said in Beijing Tuesday.  

Wang told the United Nations Meeting for Asia and the Pacific on the Question of Palestine that achieving peace required courage, strong political will, ceaseless effort, mutual compromise and sometimes even sacrifice on both sides.

Achieving peace required each side to treat the other with fairness and equality, and an unfair peace could not last, he added.

It also required mutual contact, and isolation would only exacerbate alienation, he said.

The question of Palestine was connected to world peace and security, and he called on the international community to increase its involvement in the issue.

He appreciated efforts by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resolve the conflict and supported an even larger role for the UN in promoting the Middle East peace process.

Wang said the Road Map for Middle East peace had proposed new ways of thinking about resolving the Palestinian-Israeli problem and the Geneva Initiative renewed hope for the prospects of peace.

He said China had always made efforts to achieve peace.

Wang urged Palestinian and Israeli politicians to consider the basic interests of their peoples and to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2003)