A senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official has called for greater international support for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  

Chen Weixiong, counselor of the Department of International Organization and conference, told the two-day United Nations Meeting for Asia and the Pacific on the question of Palestine in Beijing Wednesday that peace was impossible without international backing.

He said the international community must find an appropriate mechanism and ways to mediate, facilitate and push the reconciliation process forward.

Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, vice chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestine People, said a determined effort by the world community was needed now more than ever if peace was to prevail in the Middle East.

He called on the United Nations to continue its efforts to resolve the dispute, and urged the international community to give assistance to programs benefiting Palestinians.

Oleg Ozerov, head of the Middle East Peace Process Division of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said all parties should strengthen cooperation with international mediators who proposed Road Map settlement.

Ozerov said the Road Map was the best solution, though it was not ideal. The adoption of the plan by the UN Security Council gave greater political weight to the peace plan.

Zehava Galon, a member of Israel's Knesset, said the Geneva Initiative, launched on Dec. 1 by groups in Palestine and Israel, had the best chance of success, and the international community should make joint efforts to promote it.

Oleg Ozerov said the peace initiatives that were being put forward in Israel and the Palestinian National Authority addressed a number of points not referred to in the Road Map.

Such public initiatives proved the strengthening of positions of forces that favored a political settlement of the conflict, said Ozerov.

The Chinese government also expressed its support for the Palestinian people in their struggle to restore their legitimate national rights.

China and most Asian countries would continue to support the just struggle of the Palestinian people, said Li Huaxin, Deputy Director-General of the Department of West Asia and North Africa Affairs of Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The question of Palestine had reached a critical juncture, said Li, adding that the international community, particularly the United Nations, had a responsibility to intensify mediation efforts, and to bring the Middle East peace process back on track as soon as possible.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2003)