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China calls on Israel, Palestinians to resume talks

Fri Apr 20, 5:32 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's special envoy to the Middle East called on the Palestinian government on Friday to release captured Israeli soldiers to make way for the resumption of talks and build momentum towards peace in the region.

Envoy Sun Bigan made the comments following a trip to
Israel, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia, where he pushed all parties to engage in peace talks.

"We urged Palestine to make more efforts and to follow the principle of having prisoner swaps with Israel" and release the captured soldiers as soon as possible, Sun told reporters.

"We also called on Israel and other parties concerned to take further steps to ease the humanitarian crisis that is quite severely confronting the Palestinian people."

Two Israeli soldiers were captured in a cross-border Hezbollah raid in July which triggered a 34-day war in which 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.

China has sought friendly relations with both Israel and the Palestinians and has been deepening its involvement in the region, hosting a meeting between politicians from both sides in Beijing late last year.

Sun said he met relatives of the captured soldiers.

"I expressed condolences and sympathy for the pain they have experienced and also for the suffering of these soldiers."

In Saudi Arabia, he met King Abdullah and praised the government for brokering a deal to end Palestinian infighting at talks in February in the Muslim holy city of Mecca -- a deal Israel and the United States reacted coldly to.

He also saw hope in a land-for-peace initiative originally floated in 2002 and relaunched at an Arab League summit in Riyadh last month, saying it was a sign of momentum towards renewed peace talks and that Arab countries supported the move.

"They have emphasized to me that this is their strategic choice," Sun said.

The initiative offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it seized in the 1967 Middle East war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.

"I appealed to the parties concerned to make good use of the positive momentum by grasping the opportunity to work to rebuild their mutual trust so that talks can be resumed at an early date," Sun said.

He also denied that China's growing interest in the region was being fuelled by its demands for energy resources to feed its booming economy.

"I think those views are not well-founded and lack sufficient information," he said.

China calls on Israel, Palestinians to resume talks  (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070420/wl_nm/mideast_china_dc_1)