Wednesday, May 8, 2013

China as Possible Mediator in Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

This week, China's leader Xi Jinping hosted back-to-back meetings with leaders from both Palestine and Israel. Although these two visits were timed so leaders would not meet as they are not at this point ready for that step, this does signal that both sides are willing to consider a peace agreement and consider negotiation. Xi Jinping put forth a four-point peace proposal to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority. Although China has close ties with Israel, the peace agreement included the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel based on the 1967 boundaries. Although China has taken an interest in mediating this conflict, political analysts do not believe that China's role as mediator will continue since Israel/Palestine is so geographically far away and there are much closer conflicts to China.

Posted by: Liz Linning

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/world/asia/china-dips-a-toe-into-mideast-diplomacy.html?ref=world&_r=0

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