CRI听力:China Welcomes Gaza Ceasefire

Reporter:
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says China hopes Israel and Palestine can live up to the ceasefire.

"During my visits to Egypt and Arab League headquarters, I proposed a five-point peace plan that aims at stopping the violence in Gaza. China is happy to see that Palestine and Israel finally reached a ceasefire agreement."

The Foreign Minister also says China will continue its efforts to support the resumption of peace talks.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also issued a statement to welcome the deal, saying a brighter future for Gaza and Israel depends on a sustainable ceasefire.

Under the deal, Israel is to ease restrictions on imports into Gaza, allowing aid and material for reconstruction.

It also allows Palestinians to fish six nautical miles offshore, up from the previous three mile limit.

Gaza residents have paraded down main streets, waving Hamas flags to celebrate the ceasefire.

Displaced families who sought shelter in schools have also started returning home.

Osama Al Attar is a local resident.

"We heard of the ceasefire after a long 50 days of suffering during the war. The days were not easy and thank God they achieved the ceasefire and everybody is happy and everybody wants to go back home."

The war has killed over 2,100 Palestinians and wounded other 11,000.

Three quarters of the Palestinians killed were civilians.

On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and 5 civilians died.

Li Shaoxian, deputy director of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, says it is hard to ensure that the ceasefire will hold permanently.

"Based on the developments on the ground, the ceasefire deal has halted the current round of conflict. But it is hard to say whether the deal will hold after a couple of months or years. Under the deal, Israel agrees to ease its blockade to Gaza to allow in building material. But Israel can easily block the crossings again by claiming that the material is being used to construct tunnels for Hamas fighters to transfer weapons and get inside Israel. So without a durable peace plan, a fresh round of clashes could break out at any time."

Li stresses that the two-state solution is the only viable option.

"The root problem lies in the establishment of a Palestinian state. Currently Israel does not recognize a Palestinian state with a border based on the 1967 lines. And at the same time, Palestine is divided between Palestinian Authority and Hamas. This has posed huge obstacles to peace negotiations. "

Another round of negotiations between the two sides is set to be held in Cairo in a month to discuss unresolved issues.

For CRI, I'm Yuyang.