China says it supports a Palestinian plan to seek full membership in the United Nations next month.
Negotiations with Israel on the terms of Palestinian statehood have been frozen since 2008. As an alternative, the Palestinians have decided to seek UN recognition of an independent “Palestine” in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, the areas Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War.
The Netanyahu government adamantly opposes the Palestinian efforts to seek UN membership without a negotiated peace agreement with Israel, but many countries around the world have already promised Palestinian leaders diplomatic support for the venture.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that Wu Sike, its special envoy on the Middle East, told Palestinian leaders in a meeting in Ramallah that Beijing and the Chinese people have always supported the Palestinian cause.
Read more at Haaretz.com.
