Palestine-Israel issue should not be complicated: Chinese official

The Palestinian-Israeli peace process should be advanced with a responsible, objective and fair attitude, instead of being complicated, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming said here.

"We hope that the parties concerned will push Palestine and Israel towards peace with a responsible, objective and fair attitude, instead of complicating matters," Zhang told Xinhua on the sidelines of a Middle East peace conference held in Paris on Sunday.

China strongly calls for the cessation of all acts of violence against civilians and the halting of expansion of settlements, and the parties concerned must abandon all radical acts which only aggravate contradictions, Zhang said.

Zhang noted that over the past decades, China has always supported the Palestinian people's justice cause, and China also actively participates in the Middle East peace process.

China has never been absent from the process since the Madrid Conference in 1991, Zhang said.

In order to find a solution to the Palestine-Israel issue, he said, China has proposed a "two-wheel" effort -- pushing the peace process politically while promoting development in the economic field, with more investment offered to Palestine.

Paris on Sunday hosted the international conference to seek ways to revive the stranded Middle East peace negotiations. The conference brought together representatives from about 70 countries, including the UN Security Council permanent members, key European countries and major Arab states. Endi